Parx

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Among this week's rulings, Pennsylvania-based trainer J Guadalupe Guerrero saw his eight-month ban for two testosterone positives essentially expunged after the period of ineligibility was back-dated to preclude the trainer from serving time on the sidelines--a result of the trainer providing compelling evidence that testosterone...

A fundraising effort is underway to help 26-year-old exercise rider Hector Cotto, who has been hospitalized in Philadelphia since Saturday after being unable to avoid a head-on collision with a loose horse while he was breezing another Thoroughbred during morning training at Parx. Chelsea Hackbarth of the Paulick Report broke the story on Monday about the May 30 accident, which reportedly resulted in the deaths of the two horses involved. TDN could not confirm the names of the deceased horses prior to deadline for this story. Hackbarth quoted trainer Robert...

The decision comes despite numerous infractions, suspensions, and other penalties. Should anybody really be surprised? It doesn't seem to matter how much trouble a trainer can get into, they always seems to eventually find his way back. Case in point: Ramon Preciado. Preciado ran two horses at Mountaineer Park last week and has been starting horses there since April 12. Through Thursday, he had won with four of his 34 Mountaineer starters. His reinstatement came a bit more than nine years after he ran his last horse. Preciado isn't the...

The charges against Parx trainer Felissa Dunn brought when Pennyslvania State Horse Racing Commission investigators claimed to have found syringes in her barn has been dropped after an internal investigation revealed that one or more of the investigators made material misstatements of fact, according to a ruling posted on the HIWU website. "While obviously we are pleased that these ill-founded charges were dropped, the chain of custody was always in question and even without this discovery on the eve of the hearing, the fact that Miss Dunn was ever charged...

The fallout from Parx Racing's decision to deny nine trainers stalls at the track for no apparent reason continued to play out in confusing fashion Tuesday when the track's racing office accepted entries for next Monday. Trainer Mary Pattershall, one of the trainers told last month they would be denied stalls at the Pennsylvania track, said she made an entry Tuesday morning for Kevin's Strike, a four-year-old gelding whose last seven starts have been for the trainer. "They said, 'if anything changes, we'll call you immediately,'" Pattershall recalls, of the...

Last month, trainer Mary Pattershall picked up her stall allocation from Parx Racing, where she said she's been stabled for decades, and got a nasty surprise. She was given zero stalls and was told she must have her "horses and property off Parx grounds" by the end of the day Thursday April 23. What's more, the letter-signed by David Osojnak, Parx director of racing-gave no explanation as to why she would have to leave. Nor, Pattershall said, has she been given any such explanation since, although she suspects it might...

The Inglis Digital USA Sale, which opened Friday and concludes next Wednesday, April 8 at 2 p.m., offers an eye-catching entry in undefeated Shane's Wonder (Eastwood) from Bob Hutt's Uptowncharlybrown Stud LLC. Shane's Wonder won his Feb. 17 debut at Parx, going six-furlongs against state-bred maidens, by 11 1/2 lengths, and followed that up March 25 with a six-and-a-half furlong win against open allowance company by 3 1/4 lengths. Paramount Stud will consign the horse on behalf of owner-breeder Hutt and his partners, who are offering a 75% interest in...

The 2026 Pennsylvania-Bred stakes schedule will offer $1,700,000 in purses across 20 stakes races. All three of Pennsylvania's racetracks will host stakes. Beginning Apr. 22, Parx Racing will feature three Pennsylvania-Bred stakes, including the $75,000 Wait for It Stakes for 3-year-old PA-Sired runners, which was carried over from December 2025. Contested over six furlongs, the Wait for It is restricted to Pennsylvania-Breds sired by registered Pennsylvania stallions. Also featured on the Wednesday card are the $100,000 Unique Bella Stakes for fillies and mares and $100,000 Page McKenney Handicap, both over...

Hall of Fame trainer King Leatherbury, whose career spanned eight decades and included 52 training titles combined at Pimlico and Laurel, has passed away. He was 92 and died Tuesday at his home. "He's one of a kind, said one of his twin sons, Taylor Leatherbury. "There's never been a man more appropriately named than my father." Born in Shady Side, Maryland, Leatherbury was raised on a farm where his father had horses. After graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in business administration, Leatherbury went to work...

Cash is King and LC Racing's Mailata (Maximus Mischief), a romping 19-length winner of the Parx Future Stakes Dec. 30, will now aim to garner some GI Kentucky Derby points in the GIII Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Feb. 28. Butch Reid cross-entered the colt in the Jan. 3 Jerome Stakes before opting to remain at his Parx base for the seven-furlong Future Stakes--where he faced just two rivals--and the trainer expects to bypass the nine-furlong Withers Stakes Jan. 31 and wait for the one-turn mile Gotham a month later. "It's...

In response to winter weather cancellations earlier in December, Parx Racing, along with the PTHA and the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission, has added three Thursday race dates for January 2026, January 8, January 15, and January 22, the track announced Wednesday. "Winter racing always comes with challenges, and flexibility is critical," said David Osojnak, Parx Director of Racing. "Adding these January race days allows us to respond constructively to December's weather-related cancellations while continuing to support our program and  horsemen to deliver a consistent racing product. We try to help...

The $1 million GI BetParx Pennsylvania Derby, set for Saturday, September 19, will headline the 2026 live racing schedule at Parx Racing which released its calendar for next year Thursday. The track, which  typically operates a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday schedule throughout the year with select Friday and weekend dates, will play host to 149 days of live racing throughout the year. In 2026, there will be racing held on all three Triple Crown Saturdays (May 2, May 16 and June 6) as well as on Kentucky Oaks Friday (May...