So many horses have fallen by the wayside this year, it’s a relief when one actually does make it back to the races. Uncle Mo showed us he still had that competitive spirit when he turned in a runner-up performance in the Grade I King’s Bishop; but there was another colt who made a big return at the end of the Saratoga meet, though his race was much more under the radar. Unbelievably, To Honor and Serve won his first race since the Grade II Remsen when he took a 1 1/8th-mile allowance at Saratoga by 8 ¼ lengths. Certainly, an allowance race is no Grade I test, but this romp by the 3-year-old Bernardini colt shows that he’s once more a contender worth paying attention to.
A purse of $1 million has drawn a field of nine horses for the Grade II Pennsylvania Derby this Saturday at Parx Racing. To Honor and Serve will try to make this his first stakes win of his 3-year-old campaign after being derailed from the Kentucky Derby trail with a strained suspensory ligament. His injury followed back-to-back third place finishes in the Fountain of Youth Stakes and Florida Derby. In his lone stakes start since then, THAS, or “Taz,” as I like to call him, ran sixth in the Grade II Amsterdam Stakes in his first start back after the layoff. Before the Amsterdam, the colt had never run worse than third place in his life; chalk it up to an over-eager colt rarin’ to run, because his subsequent performance afterword proved he was ready to reset his sophomore campaign. To Honor and Serve has drawn the outside post in the Penn Derby and is expected to help make the pace an honest one.
The favorite for this lucrative derby is the 2011 Belmont Stakes winner, Ruler on Ice. Though the chestnut hasn’t won since his longshot victory in the final jewel of the Triple Crown, he finished a respectable third in the Haskell before coming in fourth in the Travers. Ruler on Ice fancies an off track, and he may just get that this Saturday. But one thing that may harm him is the presence of a horse that ran ahead of him in the Travers, Rattlesnake Bridge.
The only thing gaining ground on Stay Thirsty as the colt sailed to a clear victory in the Travers was Rattlesnake Bridge. Though his only claim to fame is as the winner of the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park, there’s nobody in the Pennsylvania Derby to tell Rattlesnake Bridge he can’t win this race. He was 1 1/4th-lengths away from being a Grade I winner, after all. The late-charging son of Tapit likes to pour it on in the final moments of the race, which should make for an entertaining stretch run against To Honor and Serve and Ruler on Ice. To add to the intrigue, the third-place finisher in the Travers, J W Blue, has also lined up to challenge for the big purse.
The wildcard in the Pennsylvania Derby is Pender Harbour. This Canadian invader won the last two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, which means this versatile colt has stakes wins over traditional dirt and turf, as well as synthetics. The same jockey to ride him to those big victories, Luis Contreras, will fly in to Pennsylvania for the mount. Why exactly is Pender Harbour a wildcard and not a shoe-in to win this race? Well, let’s remember that Pender Harbour finished third to Inglorious in the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine, and even though the filly had a decent dirt form, she flopped big time in the Grade I Alabama Stakes at Saratoga, finishing last of six. Until we see Pender Harbour race against the American contingent on the dirt, it’s difficult to predict how well he will fare. That being said, it’s no secret the class of 2011 is lacking superstars… or many horses that can put together two wins in a row, for that matter.
The Grade II $1 million Pennsylvania Derby will be broadcast live on TVG from Parx Racing. Post time is scheduled for approximately 5:45pm ET.