By Ben Massam
If the $1.25-million purse of Saturday's GII Pennsylvania Derby didn't provide ample incentive to attract many of the sophomore division leaders, its status as one of the final major races on the calendar restricted to 3-year-olds surely factored in bringing the GI Kentucky Derby 1-2-3 finishers to Parx Racing. The division remains in flux following a pair of disappointing races from GI Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist (Uncle Mo) and inconsistent efforts from GI Preakness S. and GI Haskell Invitational hero Exaggerator (Curlin), and the Parx co-feature may provide some clarity in deciding year-end championship honors.
The aformentioned pair–first and second in the Derby–will renew their acquaintances for the seventh time nearly two months after meeting in Monmouth Park's Haskell July 31. Big Chief Racing, Head of Plains Partners and Rocker O Ranch's Exaggerator ruled the day over a sloppy strip at the Jersey Shore, skipping home 1 1/4 lengths in front, with Nyquist finishing a tiring fourth. The win looked much like Exaggerator's wet-track Preakness score May 21, but the dark bay has been unable to pair top efforts in recent months; he was intermittently a dull 11th in both the GI Belmont S. June 11 and the GI Travers S. Aug. 27.
“He didn't look like his normal self [in the Travers],” Julie Clark, assistant to trainer Keith Desormeaux, told the Parx notes team. “He was gassed after the Travers, but he came out of it fine.”
If Exaggerator has proven to move forward over an off track, there is reason to believe that Reddam Racing's Nyquist has a clear preference for a fast track. Voted champion 2-year-old male of 2015, Nyquist ran his record to a perfect eight-for-eight in the May 7 Run for the Roses. The bay ran off to contest a hot pace in the Preakness and retreated to third, and followed a similar pattern in the Haskell. Trainer Doug O'Neill asserted that his charge recovered from the Haskell in sharp form and will likely employ a change in tactics, rating off the pace Saturday.
“I'd definitely love to see him off the pace on Saturday,” O'Neill said on an NTRA teleconference Tuesday. “Whether we drew the one or the nine in the Pennsylvania Derby, all of Team Nyquist has been thinking that the only way we find ourselves on the lead is if they just hand it to us. And obviously, looking at this field, it's a really competitive field with some fast horses in there.”
Three-time graded stakes winner and Derby third Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}) bounced back from his punchless fifth-place effort in the Haskell with a respectable third-place finish in the Travers. The Steve Asmussen trainee was nevertheless left 15 lengths in the wake of Arrogate (Unbridled's Song)'s astonishing track record performance that day.
Although Arrogate will not be in the starting gate at Parx, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will be represented by Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's Cupid (Tapit), most recently a front-running winner of the July 16 GII Indiana Derby and the Aug. 6 GII West Virginia Derby. The gray figures to be part of a lively pace scenario, which is expected to include Awesome Slew (Awesome Again)–wire-to-wire winner of the local GIII Smarty Jones S. Sept. 5–as well as 'TDN Rising Star' Summer Revolution (Summer Bird), who will be making his first start around two turns.
With a swift pace up front, both Nyquist and Exaggerator figure to get a fair shot to capture the lion's share of the lucrative purse and re-establish themselves at the fore of the race for year-end honors.
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