Lawn monster turned into soil after previous incident

Parx Racing officials abruptly moved the GIII Turf Monster Stakes – one of five rated events that precede the GI Pennsylvania Derby and GI Cotillion Stakes – to the main track after Freedom Eagle (Hoppertunity) suffered an unspecified injury and was driven off the track in a transport truck that had previously run the Alphabet Soup Handicap, an 8 1/2 furlong grass race previously reserved for Pennsylvania-bred horses on the program.

A statement from the racetrack said: “Out of an abundance of caution, Parx Racing management has moved Saturday's Grade III Turf Monster Stakes from the turf track to the main track. The $250,000 race, scheduled as the 10th race on the Pennsylvania Derby Day card with a start time of 4:04 p.m., will be run over five furlongs on the main track.”

Following pressure from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and local equestrian groups, the August 28 turf racing at the Bensalem Oval was cancelled. This measure came immediately after the August 24 Parx Dash Stakes, in which one of the competitors collapsed. The trainer of the injured horse, Causes Trouble, Harold Wyner, took video footage of the turf track, which showed numerous holes. PTHA President Bob Hutt called for the track to be closed and the necessary repairs to be carried out, a request that initially fell on deaf ears but was later met when HISA Executive Director Lisa Lazarus personally intervened.

The next day it was announced that the track would be tested and on September 5th HISA announced that all bumps/holes on the track had been filled but the surface was noticeably dry. On Saturday the track appeared to be similarly dry.

The Alphabet Soup incident was not the only one in the early part of the program. In the fifth race, the state-bred Miss Blue Tye Dye Stakes, Carousel Queen (Uptowncharlybrown), making her first start, was spun around on both sides at the break and threw jockey Dexter Haddock. Later in the race, 2-5 Anabam (Weigelia) appeared to misstep and was taken out of the race. An update on Anabam was not immediately available.

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This story was posted in Top News and tagged accident, Alphabet Soup Stakes, Bob Hutt, Crisper, HISA, horse welfare, Lisa Lazarus, Parx Racing, transferred, turf course condition, Turf Monster Stakes.