By Bill Finley
After a horse named Causes Trouble (Creative Cause) broke down in the Aug. 24 Parx Dash at Parx Race Course and had to be euthanized, a video circulated that showed that the turf course was in abysmal condition. The video showed that there were numerous holes in the turf course and that the grass itself looked like something you might see in a vacant lot. Just without the broken bottles. There were as many weeds as there were blades of grass.
“It's always been known as a bad course, but if I knew it was that bad, I never would have put my horse on that surface,” John Fanelli, the co-owner of Causes Trouble, said. “I was really upset about the condition of the course and when I saw it myself, I was in shock.”
At the time Parx did the right thing and announced that turf racing had been halted pending a review of the turf course. HISA was called in to investigate.
They evaluated the track Sept. 2 and 3, found several issues, and outlined a course to correct those issues. Those included: suspending turf racing until at least Sept. 16, thoroughly irrigating the course daily, monitor the moisture levels daily, aerate the starting gate lane opposite the infield gap, fertilize the course with a fast-release product, find a way to get rid of the geese, regularly mow the course, and tamp down the divots following each race. They returned on Sept. 13 and found that many of those corrections had been made, and that there was “noted improvement in the turf course's moisture and compaction consistency as well as an overall improvement of the grass condition.” Parx resumed turf racing on Sept. 16.
Two turf races were run, one on the 16th and the other in the 17th, without incident.
They couldn't even get to three in a row when it comes to safety. The Sept. 21 card featuring the GI Pennsylvania Derby and the GI Cotillion S., included two grass races, the Alphabet Soup S. for Pennsylvania-breds and the GIII Turf Monster S. The first of the two was the Alphabet Soup, run as the third race. Tragically, it was here that another horse broke down. Over the span of just four turf races, two horses died.
A few strides into the race, the naked eye told you there was something wrong. The field was kicking up clouds of dirt and not grass. Then it happened. Midway down the backstretch, a horse named Freedom Eagle (Hoppertunity) broke down, and, according to a source, had to be euthanized.
The race was won by the Tim Wooley-trained Crisper (Tapiture). This time it was Wooley that provided evidence that the turf course was an accident waiting to happen. He tweeted, on X, a picture of the turf course that showed that it was primarily a mixture of dirt and weeds.
I'm very thankful that our horse won and came home safe but this is what we ran on today at Parx. These tracks need to do better considering the purse money available today. pic.twitter.com/DnS3TIeMri
— Tim Woolley (@timwoolleyracin) September 21, 2024
“I'm very thankful that our horse won and came home safe, but this is what we ran on today at Parx,” he tweeted. “These tracks need to do better considering the purse money available.”
Shortly thereafter, Parx announced that the Turf Monster would be run on the dirt.
“Management moved Saturday's GIII Turf Monster Stakes from the turf course to the main track out of an abundance of caution,” read a brief press release sent out by track officials.
It was a day in which this racetrack should have enjoyed its finest hour. The grizzly bear (a.k.a. Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) scored a narrow, but game victory in the Cotillion. One race later, the youngest 89 year-old on the planet, D. Wayne Lukas, won the Pennsylvania Derby with GI Preakness S. winner Seize The Grey (Arrogate). It's always a great story whenever Lukas wins a big stakes. But after another horse died on the Parx turf course, it was hard to enjoy anything.
Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's President Bob Hutt was highly critical of Parx management following the Aug. 24 breakdown. He said the reason why the course is in such poor shape is that management refuses to spend the money it would take to repair it. He contends that all that really matters to Parx management is the casino.
“[PARX COO] Joe Wilson, who the casino put in to feed us bread and water, is not cooperative and doesn't spend money on anything,” Hutt said. “The turf course had been a problem for 10 years. I call it durf, D-U-R-F. I sent a polite email to Joe Wilson asking him to not have any further turf racing because it's dangerous to the horses that are entrusted to our care and the jockeys. I begged him to stop. He didn't answer me. He never does.”
(That's par for the course. Wilson does not talk to the media. I have called him over the years at least 25 times and he has yet to return a phone call or answer an email).
Considering the time of year, it would seem highly unlikely that they will run any more turf races in 2024. At some point, though they have to deal with this, and the only two solutions are that they spend the money needed to fix the course or they simply stop using it for good. If they want to continue, status quo, with the turf course then HISA needs to step in and be a lot more forceful this time. The right answer would be to tell them the course cannot be used until the problems are fixed.
This wasn't the only thing that Parx management seemed overwhelmed by. They dragged the races out to the point that the 14th and final race was run at 7:19 PM ET, 39 minutes after the scheduled post time. Sunset Saturday in Philadelphia was at 6:59 and the race was run as darkness was descending on Bensalem, Pennsylvania. There were some delays during the running of the card, but it apparently never dawned on anyone that they needed to start running the races more quickly. The Pennsylvania Derby was run 48 minutes after the Cotillion and there were 58 minutes between the running of the GII Gallant Bob S. and the Cotillion. Why?
Parx, and the sport, need to do better.
Lukas Deserves Credit for Sticking with Torres
It came as a surprise when Wayne Lukas named Jaime Torres to ride Seize the Grey in the GII Pat Day Mile. He not only won that day, but came back to win the Preakness. But things went south in a hurry after that. Seize the Grey was a badly beaten seventh in the GI Belmont S. and a bad fourth in the GII Jim Dandy S. At that point most trainers would have made a switch to a more accomplished jockey than Torres, who has been riding only since 2022. But Lukas stood by the young jockey.
“After we lost in the Jim Dandy, I had seven agents call me and say 'You're not going to put Jaime Torrres back on, are you?'” Lukas said. “He's a really, smart, classy young guy who has great hands and a lot of trainers overlook that. He gets a horse to relax very well. He is too tall. I wish he could shrink by a foot. When I first started riding him, I told him I probably wouldn't give him many mounts because he was too tall and I could only ride him on big horses. Yet, I've been so impressed with how he has handled himself. He's handled himself very well and he's appreciative of what we have done for him. I just like the guy a lot.”
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