Officials at Parx Racing abruptly moved the GIII Turf Monster Stakes–one of five graded events on the GI Pennsylvania Derby and GI Cotillion Stakes undercard–to the main track after Freedom Eagle (Hoppertunity) suffered an unspecified injury and was vanned off the track following the running of the Alphabet Soup Handicap, an 8 1/2-furlong grass race restricted to Pennsylvania-breds earlier on the program.
A statement from the track read: “Parx Racing management moved Saturday's Grade III Turf Monster Stakes from the turf course to the main track out of an abundance of caution. The $250,000 stakes, carded as the 10th race on the Pennsylvania Derby Day card with post time of 4:04 p.m., will be run at five furlongs on the main track.”
Under pressure from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and local horsemen, turf racing was discontinued at the Bensalem oval on Aug. 28. That action occurred in the immediate aftermath of the Aug. 24 Parx Dash Stakes in which one of the participants broke down. The trainer of the injured horse Causes Trouble, Harold Wyner, took video footage of the turf course that showed numerous holes. PTHA President Bob Hutt demanded that the course be shut down and that the necessary repairs be undertaken, a request that first fell on deaf ears but was later acceded to once HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus became personally involved.
The following day it was announced that the course would be tested and on Sept. 5, HISA announced that any divots/holes on the course had been filled in, but that the surface was noticeably dry. The course appeared to be similarly dry on Saturday.
The Alphabet Soup incident was not the only one during the early portion of the program. In race five, the state-bred restricted Miss Blue Tye Dye Stakes, first-time starter Carousel Queen (Uptowncharlybrown) was bounced around bilaterally at the break and unseated jockey Dexter Haddock. Later in the race, 2-5 Anabam (Weigelia) appeared to take a bad step and was eased out of the race. An update on Anabam was not immediately available.
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