Pennsylvania Derby’s likely favorite, McKinzie, draws 8th post
The horse, trained by Bob Baffert, has not raced since March because of injury. The race is Saturday at Parx.
Even though McKinzie has not raced since March 10, the 3-year-old with the Triple Crown connections of trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Mike Smith is likely to be favored in Saturday's $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx.
The super-consistent colt missed the Triple Crown races with a hock (rear leg) injury. On Monday, he drew post 8 in a field of 10 that includes the talented Hofburg from the Bill Mott barn and Bravazo, the only horse other than Triple Crown winner Justify to run in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont.
The post position elicited an "awesome'' text from Baffert.
The Derby will go as the 11th race on the card, right after the $1 million Cotillion for 3-year-old fillies. The heavy favorite will be Monomoy Girl, who drew post 2 in a field of eight. She is a neck shy of being unbeaten in nine races and has won four consecutive Grade I stakes, including the Kentucky Oaks. With her early speed, the No. 2 post should not be an issue. She almost always gets good early position.
Her main challengers will be two very good fillies that have been chasing and not catching her all year, Midnight Bisou and Wonder Gadot. Test stakes winner Separationofpowers from the all-powerful Chad Brown barn will be trying Monomoy Girl for the first time.
The Pennsylvania Derby, run at a mile and an eighth and the Cotillion, at a mile and a sixteenth, are both Grade I races and perfectly positioned on the calendar as final preps for the Breeders' Cup on the first weekend of November at Churchill Downs. Race 9 on the card will be the $300,000 Gallant Bob for 3-year-olds going 6 furlongs. The Pa. Derby and Cotillion will be shown live starting at 4:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
The card will also feature some of the country's best jockeys, including Smith, the Ortiz brothers (Jose and Irad), John Velazquez, Joel Rosario and Florent Geroux. Local star Frankie Pennington has mounts in the Gallant Bob and the Pa. Derby.