Top racing action shifted to Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa. Saturday for a pair of Grade 1, $1 million races, the Pennsylvania Derby and the Cotillion Stakes. Tom Pedulla offers takeaways from those major races for 3-year-olds in addition to the Princess Rooney Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The Grade 3 Princess Rooney is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series and offered an automatic, fees-paid berth in the $1 million PNC Bank Filly & Mare Sprint Nov. 2 at Del Mar.

ENCORE!: Seize the Grey provided what appeared to be the thrill of a lifetime when he won the Preakness Stakes on behalf of 2,570 individuals who had invested in him through MyRacehorse when he earned a front-running victory in the second jewel of the 2024 Triple Crown. He was not done. He and jockey Jaime Torres again rolled on the front end and pulled away by 3 ¾ lengths in the Pennsylvania Derby for legendary 89-year-old trainer D. Wayne Lukas. So many stakeholders attended the Pennsylvania Derby that the trophy presentation had to be moved from the winner’s circle to the main track. No one was more elated than Michael Behrens, founder of MyRacehorse. “After the Preakness, it felt like an amazing moment and I was appreciative of it,” he said. “I know lightning doesn’t strike more than once, but [Saturday] it did.”

Thorpedo Anna winning Cotillion Stakes. (Eclipse Sportswire)

BIG ONE AHEAD: Even as trainer Ken McPeek prepared Thorpedo Anna for the Cotillion Stakes, he kept an unwavering eye on the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff Nov. 2 at Del Mar. For that reason, he used a light touch ahead of the Cotillion due to the much stiffer test ahead and his stellar sophomore did well to eke out a neck victory at Parx despite a difficult trip. “We didn’t train her all that hard for this race. I felt like, ‘Let’s not squeeze the lemon really hard for this,’” McPeek explained. “I felt like we could win it regardless and we did. She’s just an exceptional individual. A win is a win. I’ll take it. I’m not complaining.”  

WORTH THE WAIT: When Preakness winner Seize the Grey fell off form by running seventh in the Belmont Stakes and fourth in the Jim Dandy Stakes presented by Mohegan Sun, the difficult decision was made to skip the prestigious DraftKings Travers Stakes even though that race typically impacts the Eclipse Award for leading 3-year-old male. The uncommon move almost surely contributed to a winning effort in the Pennsylvania Derby. Torres said he could tell early that he had plenty of horse beneath him. “He gave me the same feeling as the Preakness, the way he was moving and his ears,” the jockey said. “He was comfortable in there and I knew I was going to have a lot of horse at the end.”

Dragoon Guard (Nikki Sherman/EQUI-PHOTO)

NOT HIS STYLE: Favored Dragoon Guard had his four-race winning streak abruptly ended when he finished a well-beaten third in the Pennsylvania Derby. He had set the pace in his last three victories, including Grade 3 successes in the West Virginia Derby and Indiana Derby. This time, he started poorly and never quite recovered. He lagged in sixth through the opening half-mile of the 1 1/8-mile contest. “Big races like this, at a mile and an eighth and beyond, I’ve always been a big believer that you need to be very close or on the lead,” trainer Brad Cox said. “Didn’t expect to be fifth or sixth early, I promise you that.”

BREEDERS’ CUP RETURN: C2 Racing Stable, operated by brothers Mark and Clint Cornett, asserted itself at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships last year when White Abarrio captured the biggest race of the in winning the 2023 Longines Classic. They will make a return trip to the Breeders’ Cup after Soul of an Angel recovered from a slow start and staged a dramatic last-to-first rally for a 3 ¼-length victory in the Princess Rooney Saturday for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and jockey Drayden Van Dyke. C2 Racing owns the 5-year-old Atreides mare in partnership with Agave Racing Stable. “She’s not Breeders’ Cup nominated, but we are going to pay that fee to do that,” Mark Cornett said. “Her entry fee is paid for with this, so we’re going to go there for sure.”