When Parx Racing in 2020 reduced its burdensome takeout rate on exactas and trifectas, it made the Pennsylvania Derby card much more playable. (Cry into the wilderness: How about across-the-board takeout reductions at venues where casino revenue primarily funds racing, where track owners hardly lean on racetrack betting handle for profit?) Ten stakes are clustered this year on Parx’s day in the racing spotlight. We need not leave Bensalem, Pa., to find three plays. Pennsylvania Derby I found going to Monmouth Park for the Haskell Stakes in July especially instructive with regard to the colt Taiba. Having not seen Taiba in person since Kentucky Derby week, and then only briefly, it was interesting watching him in his stall one morning at Monmouth and during a routine gallop the following day. What stood out was immaturity: Taiba treated everything like a game, goofing off at the barn, playing around during his training session. This is no criticism. In fact, Taiba appeared to take pleasure in the activity of being a racehorse; he’d just require some time to become a professional. :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! Then came the Haskell itself, where Taiba’s mixture of elite talent and lack of focus went on full display. Traveling well enough past the six-furlong marker, Taiba, unhappy being stuck down inside and behind horses, dropped the bit before the five-furlong pole. The feeling for Mike Smith must’ve been unpleasant, the horse at the end of his reins no longer taking him anywhere, dying on the vine. Smith realized he had to leave the rail, and when Taiba got outside, he immediately jumped back into the race. But the half-furlong of green racing was the difference between victory and defeat, as Cyberknife took Taiba’s spot along the fence, saved ground around the far turn, and gained just enough advantage to beat Taiba by a head. The two meet again as the principals in the Pennsylvania Derby. I liked Cyberknife to beat Taiba at Monmouth, but decidedly favor Taiba at Parx. This is no comment on Cyberknife’s distant second in Epicenter’s monster Travers. Cyberknife, on the Beyers, at least, took a step forward in defeat. Meanwhile, Taiba has been working away – and growing up – back in Bob Baffert’s Southern California barn. Granted, his workmate was morning punching bag Shaaz, but Taiba, notoriously disinterested in breezing, perhaps for the first time in his life put his company away in a six-furlong drill Sept. 17. Taiba’s massive hindquarters look more powerful than ever. He’s back East for a second time – two months older now and ready to win. Cotillion Speaking of Baffert-trained 3-year-olds working in Southern California for a Grade 1 at Parx, Adare Manor recently has turned in some of the more impressive work you’re going to see from a sophomore filly. She crushed the older male Azul Coast in a team workout Sept. 3, and on Sept. 17 she left talented 3-year-old colt High Connection (with whom Taiba also had worked) reeling in a super-impressive move. This past winter, when Baffert was training her, Adare Manor had all the makings of a filly for the Kentucky Oaks and points beyond. Then, Baffert went on a long suspension and Adare Manor, racing for substitute trainers, lost her way in two spring starts. I have no insight into the filly’s psychology, but from a physical standpoint, this was a young horse who needed to fill into her large, scopey frame. And she has. Cotillion morning-line favorite Secret Oath here is a play-against for me: I favor, in order of preference, Society, Shahama, and Green Up. But if Adare Manor runs to her work and early-year promise, she wins. Gallant Bob Runninsonofagun at his morning-line odds of 6-1 would be value in this age-restricted six-furlong dash, but my guess is the betting public won’t ignore Runninsonofagun like they did last out in the Allen Jerkens. The cutback to six furlongs from 6 1/2 and seven furlongs feels positive, and while Runninsonofagun stands to regress at least slightly from his career peak, the spacing of his races through the year and a lively interim half-mile workout time suggest he’ll run to form. Still, I’ll take Nakatomi, hopefully at a price longer than his 9-2 morning line. Trainer Wesley Ward has waited and waited on the right spot for this colt, who was very sharp beating older rivals in June, his lone start of 2022. He’s the kind of lightly raced 3-year-old with the profile to far exceed his established form, and the pace setup for Nakatomi, an outside-drawn stalker-closer, could be ideal. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.