Parx Racing

Live racing at Parx was cancelled Tuesday and Wednesday in the wake of a winter storm which moved through the Philadelphia area Monday night. Frigid temperatures and wintry conditions also forced the cancellation of live racing both days at Mahoning Valley in Austintown, Ohio. Additional cancellations include Tuesday's card at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among the key rulings from the last week, trainer Bonnie Lucas was suspended seven days after a post-race Xylazine positive in a sample taken from Tankinator, who was injured and vanned off in a race at Parx Racing on Nov. 7. Xylazine is a Class B controlled medication under HISA that can be used to sedate racehorses. It remains unclear whether Tankinator was euthanized as a result of...

The final leg of the $1,000,000 Pennsylvania-Sired/Bred Stallion Series is set for Wednesday, Dec. 27th at Parx Racing with the Miss Behaviour S. and the Wait for It S.--both purses are $200,000. Initially, four races were carded for the inaugural series in 2022, while this year saw the expansion to six. Following the conclusion of the Stallion Series, a $50,000 trainer's bonus will be split among the conditioners of the horses who accumulated the first, second and third highest number of points over the six series races. The first leg...

Minutes after a $40,000 claimer named Jack a Rose (Midshipman) broke down in an Apr. 3 race at Parx Racing, part owner Lisa Novak got a call and was told she had two choices, have the gelding euthanized or go through with an expensive and complex surgery that may or may not save his life. She didn't see it that way. There was only one choice. She would do whatever it took to save Jack a Rose's life. "I have so much love for him," Novak said. "You can't just...

Two board members from the Organization of Racing Investigators (ORI) warmed up their vocal chords and shared a sliver of their vast expertise concerning the value of racing integrity teams during a panel at the Global Symposium on Racing, sponsored by the University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program, this past week. Don Ahrens of Sam Houston Race Park and Jason Klouser of the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission explained how these special squads, working alongside agencies like the Breeders' Cup, the U.S. Trotting Association, the American Quarter Horse Association...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among the key rulings from the last seven days, the prohibition of intra-articular injections within seven days of a timed or reported workout once again stands out as a thorn in the side of trainers. Three such cases have been resolved in the past week, resulting in $3,000 fines meted out in each case. The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) also handed down a seven-day suspension and...

Joe Taylor, who has been among the top trainers at Parx since he began his career about eight years ago, has received a six-year suspension from the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) after two of his horses tested positive for the banned substances clenbuterol and methylphenidate. According to a posting on the HIWU website, Taylor has admitted the violations and accepted the penalties. However, his attorney, Alan Pincus, raised questions about the positive tests. "No trainer is going to give his horse two different easily detectable illegal drugs and...

When Penn National shut down for a one-month planned break Sept. 23, Tyler Conner, the track's third-leading rider this year in both wins and earnings, wasn't sure what he'd do to keep his income flowing. Yet the 30-year-old jockey, who is soft-spoken but highly driven, managed to build enough out-of-town business to the point where he has just completed a demanding six-day run of riding at six different tracks in the Northeast and Canada. His whirlwind tour included more than 1,800 miles of driving, nearly all of which he accomplished...

Next (Not This Time) isn't just winning races. He is destroying the competition. A marathon-race specialist, he did it again last week at Parx, when he won the GIII Greenwood Cup S. by an astounding 25 lengths. It's been quite a ride for his trainer, Doug Cowans, who claimed the now 5-year-old last year for $62,500. To talk about Next and to discuss his future plans, Cowans joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week. Despite his horse's...

A 2-year-old filly who ran fourth as a first-time-starter in a $100,000 stakes for registered Pennsylvania-bred and -sired offspring in August has had her state-bred status stripped after the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association (PHBA) determined she was actually bred in New Jersey. Brian Sanfratello, the executive secretary of the PHBA, disclosed the "status removal" for Miss Ellary (Social Inclusion), during the Sept. 26 meeting of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. Miss Ellary earned $5,520 for her fourth-place debut Aug. 21. But Sanfratello said the PHBA subsequently received and investigated a...

Uncovering loaded needles and syringes to apprehending an assistant starter who was in possession of a controlled substance, seasoned integrity teams conducted searches and seizures last week across a pair of Keystone State racetracks. Led by the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission staff, the sweeps took place first in Erie at Presque Isle Downs before spending three days downstate at Parx Racing in Bensalem through Saturday's GI Pennsylvania Derby. As part of their integrity program, the Commission once again put together a group of investigators--this time from nine states, plus...

The afternoon's graded stakes action at Parx kicked off most appropriately with the flashy grey Next (Not This Time) annexing the GIII Greenwood Cup S. and it didn't take long for the grey train to continue with Nobody Listen (Conveyance) taking the GIII Turf Monster S. With the remnants of Tropical storm Ophelia cranking, keeping the sky dark and the track murky, Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming) completed the grey graded trifecta in the day's feature, the GI Pennsylvania Derby. Employing the same tactics used successfully earlier in the program over...