PARX PICKS AND HORSES TO WATCH: JULY 6

Notapradaprice
Notapradaprice won the 2019 G3 Dr. James Penny Memorial Stakes at Parx. Photo by RJ Umberger /EQUI-PHOTO.

Parx Racing has an 11-race card on tap for this afternoon. Post time for the opener is 12:55p.m., and we’ve got Parx picks. The day starts with a carryover of $108,149 in the jackpot pick-5.

Check out our other handicapping here!

The field for Tuesday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Dr. James Penny Memorial Stakes didn’t exactly scare off any contenders. A robust group of 11 is scheduled to face the starter, and there are plenty of ways for the enterprising bettor to go.

Ten of the 11 fillies and mares will be seeking their first stakes win, and one of them will be seeking her first win of any kind.

That last is Tic Tic Tic Boom, who is 12-1 on the morning line. The Alan Bedard trainee is winless in nine career tries, though she has finished second or third in five of them. Four of those nine tries have come in stakes races, and she has finished third in all four. Vladimir Diaz has the mount on a horse who will have the benefit of racing on her home track, though it will be her first try on the Parx lawn.

Perhaps the most accomplished of the group is also the most lightly raced. That’s Princess Grace (4-1 morning line). A four-year-old daughter of Karakontie, she is trained by Michael Stidham for M and M Stable and has won three of her four career starts.

Last time out, Princess Grace won the Grade 2 Mrs. Revere at Churchill Downs, a race taken off the turf onto a fast main track. She also is graded stakes-placed on the lawn, having finished second in the Grade 3 Valley View in October at Keeneland.

Princess Grace has not raced since November 14 but has been working forwardly towards her return, most recently with Stidham’s Fair Hill string. Stidham wins at a 19% clip with horses returning from layoffs of more than 90 days. Joe Bravo is named.

The morning line favorite in this 1 1/16-mile contest is the speedy Platinum Paynter. The Juan Vazquez trainee didn’t break her maiden until her 11th try for former trainer Jamie Ness, but she then ripped off five wins in six starts, Vazquez claiming her for $12,500 from the last of those.

This year she’s been second and third in two stakes starts, including a third-place finish in the Grade Beaugay at Belmont Park May 8. Her history suggests she’ll try to control this from the front with local pilot Ruben Silvera up.

Two runners will make their North American debuts in this event.

Amniarix (9-2) raced with good success on the synthetic surfaces at Great Britain’s Wolverhampton and Kempton Park tracks and also was a close-up fourth in a handicap on the turf at Goodwood. Trainer Graham Motion, who has good success with the Europe-America pipeline, has retained New York-based rider Jose Ortiz, who’s coming in for just the single mount.

And Honey Cake (6-1) arrives from France for trainer Jonathan Thomas. She’s exhausted her conditions, having already posted four wins, though her two stakes tries were less successful. Manny Franco will ride.

The Penny is scheduled as the 10th race on an 11-race card and slated to go off just after 5:00.

RACE NUMBERCONTENDERSCOMMENTS
Race 98-2-7-6Decent field will line up in this open, $48,000 allowance going seven furlongs, and we’ll give the nod to #8 Phat Man (7-2). The Kent Sweezey trainee has kept the right sort of company, and while he couldn’t quite get to runners like Firenze Fire and Flagstaff in his last couple, he won’t see any like those here. Red-hot Paco Lopez (8-for-20 at the track) is up… #2 Borracho (6-1) has run well in his last couple and makes his first start in the Penny Pearce barn today. He scratched out of a stake at Delaware last Saturday for this spot… Jamie Ness has two in here, with #7 Wentz (3-1) figuring the tougher of the two after having crushed similar two back… Runner-up effort last out might be better than it looks for #6 Arch Cat (5-1); that was a high-quality field that day at Delaware…
Race 102-8-3-5Maybe we’re deluding ourselves but we are high on seeing Jose Ortiz in to ride #2 Amniarix (9-2) for a barn that knows what it’s doing with horses coming here from abroad… #8 Princess Grace (4-1) hasn’t done a thing wrong to date and would be no surprise at all… #3 Honey Cake (6-1) won three of four in France to end last year… #5 Platinum Paynter (7-2) has the speed to control this early and has demonstrated the ability to contend with similar…

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