Micanopy gives Simone PA Derby puncher’s chance
Onetime claimer won Smarty Jones Stakes
The Biz
September 18, 2026
Five months ago, Micanopy was available for an $8,000 claiming price. Saturday, he will run in the $1 million, Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing.
That unlikely rise has carried trainer Michael Simone to the biggest race of his career. Micanopy earned his place with a 1½-length victory in the Aug. 18 Smarty Jones Stakes at Parx, Simone’s first stakes win.
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“It’s a dream come true,” Simone said. “I don’t have a lot of opportunities to run in stakes races. We do a lot of claiming, maybe the lower ranks of claiming races. So for me to get a horse to run in a stake is just special as it is, let alone to win the stake race.”
Simone claimed Micanopy for owner Jane Perry from a five-way shake April 25 at Tampa Bay Downs. The Uncle Chuck gelding won that day before finishing second and fourth in a pair of Delaware Park allowances, the first on the turf and the second against older horses.
Simone believed Micanopy had endured a difficult, wide trip in the latter race, which proved productive when several participants returned to run well. That encouraged him to try the Smarty Jones, although the Pennsylvania Derby was not yet part of the plan.
“We were just kind of one step at a time, see how he ran there in the Smarty,” Simone said.
Micanopy answered the question, settling off the pace before wearing down Ponder and Dream. His winning Beyer Speed Figure of 91 was a career best, but he will need another step forward against a field led by Grade 1 winner Further Ado, Preakness runner-up Iron Honor, and Travers fourth-place finisher The Puma.
The Pennsylvania Derby was not Micanopy’s only option. Simone said received calls about the Super Derby and St. Louis Derby, but Parx offered several advantages: proximity to Simone’s Delaware Park base, a surface Micanopy had already handled, and free entry earned through the Smarty Jones.
“You don’t have many opportunities to take a chance in them type races,” Simone said. “We just kind of want to get an idea and get a line on our horse and see where he lines up and see how he stacks up against those horses.”
Micanopy enters doing well, Simone said, following a two-minute lick this past weekend and a breeze at Delaware Park Sept. 12. Paco Lopez, enjoying a successful meet with Simone at Delaware, has the mount.
“Paco’s Paco,” Simone said. “He wins races, and when the chips are down, you want Paco on the horse.”
For Simone, who returned to training in late 2020 after eight years away, Saturday also marks another step in rebuilding his stable. He restarted with one horse at Fair Hill and now has about 45 at Delaware, primarily claimers.
None has taken him farther than Micanopy.
“We’re all going through a learning thing here,” Simone said. “We’re just hoping he runs respectable and comes back good, and that’s the main thing.”
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