Parx Racing

A total of 142 entries were taken for Pennsylvania Day at the Races, the 13-race extravaganza for Pennsylvania-breds worth over $1 million, including seven $100,000 stakes, to be run Monday, Aug. 22 at Parx Racing. This year's card of stakes offerings was expanded from five to seven with the addition of two restricted to Pennsylvania-bred and sired 2-year-olds, each of which attracted 12 entries. Going off as the ninth and 10th races, the first up will be the $100,000 Miss Blue Tye Dye for fillies, followed by the $100,000 Whistle...

The Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association has released the 2022 stakes schedule for state-bred horses with 27 stakes to be run at Pennsylvania tracks throughout the year totaling over $4 million. The stakes action kicks off Apr. 25 at Parx Racing with two seven-furlong $100,000 races for older horses: the Unique Bella for fillies and mares, and the Page McKenney H. Seven $100,000 stakes will be carded on Pennsylvania Day at the Races Aug. 22 at Parx, including the first two events of the inaugural 2-year-old PA-Sired PA-Bred Stallion Series. The...

Officials at Lone Star Park have announced that horses stabled at Fonner Park in Nebraska and Parx Racing, each of which is being impacted by EHV-1 positives, will not be allowed to participate at the Dallas-area oval until further notice. Additionally, the track is continuing to require that all horses admitted to the stable area have a current (i.e. within 90 days) FDA-approved EHV-1 vaccine or booster. Vaccine information must be noted on the certificate for admittance. Horsepeople are encouraged to contact the Lone Star racing office for further information.

After 25 years on the job, Michael P. Ballezzi is calling it quits as the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.  Since taking the reins in 1996 as executive director, Ballezzi has been a champion of the sport, its horsemen, and equine athletes while spearheading programs which would ultimately become the model for industry-wide change in equine aftercare. His most successful efforts include establishing the Horsemen's Purchasing Association, providing bedding, feed, supplements, and equipment at discounted prices on the backstretch at Parx; developing Turning for Home in May...

Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), among the most talented horses in training yet to have officially reached the highest level, got his Grade I in Saturday's Pennsylvania Derby--but not without some more drama. He had last been seen getting DQ'd from first to seventh in the GI Haskell Invitational S. at Monmouth July 17 when he crossed over on and clipped heels with Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow), causing that runner to drop Paco Lopez. And it was Midnight Bourbon who again was involved in a controversial stretch drive with Hot Rod Charlie....

Leading sprinter Jackie's Warrior, who defeated Life is Good (Into Mischief) to win the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. Aug. 28 at Saratoga, followed up that rival's win in the GII Kelso H. at Belmont Saturday afternoon with an effortless victory of his own at Parx. Displaying his normal early dash, Jackie's Warrior clicked off an opening quarter in :21.97, though he did have some token 'pressure' from the rail-drawn Real Talk. Dispatching  that rival with consummate ease at the three-furlong pole, Jackie's Warrior was past the half-mile in :44.13,...

The second-, third-, fourth and last-place finishers from Saratoga's GI Alabama S. comprise half of what is expected to be a field of eight for Saturday's GI Cotillion S. at Parx Racing. Private Mission (Into Mischief), recent winner of the GIII Torrey Pines S., did not make the trip in from California. Clairiere (Curlin) won the GII Rachel Alexandra S. at the Fair Grounds on her seasonal debut, but was second in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks and a one-paced fourth to 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) in the GI...

The decision to withdraw GI Kentucky Derby first-past-the-post Medina Spirit (Protonico) from Saturday's $1-million GI Pennsylvania Derby is certainly a disappointing development, but eight of the nine remaining entrants already have at least one stakes win to their credit, six of those at the graded-stakes level, with a couple of new shooters that have earned their chance to contest a race of this magnitude. Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) is a deserving favorite based on his body of work, one that could look dramatically more sparkling with a few different bounces...

Prohibitive favorite Fulsome (Into Mischief) sat back and came with his run to return to winning ways in Tuesday evening's GIII Smarty Jones S. at Parx. A third-out graduate over the Fair Grounds sod in January, he was forced to try the main track two starts later in a rained-off, sloppy allowance at Keeneland Apr. 10, but found his calling that day when cruising to a 3 1/2-length victory. The bay added the Oaklawn S. May 1 over stablemate and next-out Texas Derby hero Warrant (Constitution), and took a major...

Recent backstretch raids staged by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission at Parx have uncovered what Director of Thoroughbred Horse Racing at Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Tom Chuckas described as a "significant amount of contraband" and "items that have no business on the backside." Chuckas made the revelations during a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday of the Pennsylvania Racing Commission. The meeting was held over Zoom and a one-minute-and-twenty second segment was captured and posted on Twitter by veterinarian Kathryn Papp. Pennsylvania Racing Commissioner Russell Jones took part in the meeting and confirmed...

With expected temperature readings in the upper 90s combined with oppressive humidity resulting in real-feel readings well into the triple digits, officials at Parx Racing in suburban Philadephia and a bit further south at Delaware Park canceled Monday's live racing programs. Racing is scheduled to resume Wednesday at Delaware, with a 10-race card beginning at 1:15 p.m. ET. The next scheduled program at Parx is Tuesday afternoon, but the forecast calls for similarly high temperatures.

Kendrick Carmouche said he has never experienced racism, at the racetrack or elsewhere. But that doesn't mean that the events surrounding the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers didn't hit home for the 36-year-old jockey. The New York-based Carmouche is one of only a handful of African-American jockeys riding in the U.S. Earlier this week, Carmouche posted an emotional video on social media. With tears streaming down his cheeks, he spoke of the heartache he had been experiencing since the Floyd killing. "It is very...