For Jessica Paquette, Pennsylvania Derby Day at Parx Racing isn’t just another Saturday—it’s a marathon.

“Well, it’s 15 races following 11 the day before,” she said. “Everyone knows I run marathons, and I’m real grateful on a week like this that I do like a marathon distance, because this is just one foot after another, and it’s great to be a part of such a big couple of days.”

Saturday’s 15-race extravaganza begins at 11:05 a.m., and the finale is slated for 6:30 p.m. One challenge, when your job is talking about 26 races in two days, is keeping the voice together.

“I’m anxious about that,” she admitted. “Just 15 races through the day, big fields, big excitement, and you want to save the best for the big ones, right? So I’ll be swapping my usual coffee for some tea and honey halfway through the day.”

The Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby and Cotillion are the highlights of the card, and Paquette says the energy is always special. The Derby has drawn a field of talented runners seeking a signature win; the Cotillion, on the other hand, has the winners all but one of the two-turn Grade 1 races contested for 3-year-old fillies to date.

“It’s always a lot of fun and really celebratory. It’s so much fun on these Pennsylvania Derby weeks to see all of the media and the big horsemen and women and kind of everyone comes to Parx and pays attention to us for such great reasons a couple of days a year,” Paquette said. “And we love welcoming everyone here to our corner of the universe. And I hope we put on a great show.”

Most days Paquette plays a dual role as both announcer and analyst. That analyst job requires her to do more handicapping than perhaps she ideally would as an announcer.

“I do have to handicap the races kind of more than I would like to as the announcer, because when you’re calling the races, you don’t want to be stuck in this preconceived notion of how the race is going to go,” she explained.

But Saturday she’ll have some help, allowing her to focus on the calls. Which isn’t to say she’s ignoring the ‘capping. In fact, she’ll enter the day with some solid ideas, particularly in the Cotillion.

“This is actually my strongest opinion, not of the weekend, but of probably the whole year at Parx so far,” Paquette said. “I am all in on Ourdaydreaminggirl, the local filly.”

The Lou Linder trainee, 20-1 on the morning line, ran a closing second in the Cathryn Sophia over the strip August 19. That’s been something of a theme for her, but she’ll get more ground to mount her comeback in the Cotillion – the 1 1/16-mile distance is the farthest she’s gone – and the pace is expected to be lively.

“She had such a nightmare trip in the Catherine Sophia. I thought she galloped out great,” the announcer said. “She is 20-1 on the morning line for a reason, but I do think that she’ll prove that she can hold her own with the big girls. And trainer Lou Linder is not one of those guys that kind of throws something at the wall and hopes you get a piece of it in these big races. The idea was always to get her here.”

The Pennsylvania Derby, meanwhile, has no shortage of intrigue, either. While there are no Grade 1 winners in the field, runners like Baeza, Gosger, and Goal Oriented have held their own against divisional heavyweights like Sovereignty and Journalism.

 “This is such an interesting race. These are some horses who, their form is on the upswing, and they could be poised to have a big second half of the year like Gosger and Baeza, who has certainly danced all the dances,” Paquette said. “I like Gosger in this spot. I just think he’s so honest. I think he’s up against it a little bit from a pace perspective. There’s just no way he gets a breather at any point in this race. But I think the older he’s getting, the more he’s becoming a little bit more ratable.”

Could there be an upset? Put it this way: if Paquette’s handicapping is on point Saturday, Lou Linder’s gonna be the happiest guy in town.

 “This is another race where I am going kind of local and big with a longshot,” she said. “I don’t know that Happily Delusional is good enough to beat Baeza, to beat Gosger, but I think he gets the pace setup. I don’t know that he’s good enough to beat these boys, but I think he is the one that blows up your superfecta or your trifecta if you don’t use him.”

Whether he does or not remains to be seen, of course. Either way, Paquette will need to pace herself through 15 races and aim to deliver her best when the spotlight is brightest. For Paquette, the scale of the day is part of the appeal.

“I like big days. I know some announcers don’t like—they find them a little overwhelming,” she said. “I like the chaos, and it gives me, you know, I won’t have a time to check the internet. Which is better. The less I spend time on the internet, the better.”

NOTE: To hear the full interview with Jessica Paquette, listen to Saturday’s Off to the Races Radio at 10:00 a.m.