PARX PICKS AND HORSES TO WATCH: NOV. 18

Street Band
Street Band upset the 2019 Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing . Photo by Allison Janezic.

Parx Racing has a 10-race card on tap for this afternoon. Post time for the opener is 11:55 a.m., and we’ve got Parx picks.

How’d we do last time at Parx?

RACE NUMBERCONTENDERSCOMMENTS
Race 59-7-1-2A two-year-old PA-bred maiden special is on tap here, and we’ll give the nod to #9 Chelsea Wall (6-1). The Linda Albert-trained Maryland shipper is entering off a dismal performance, but we’ll give her a pass: she may not have liked either or both of the one-mile distance or the sloppy, sealed racing strip. Her two prior efforts were decent against the very promising Pretty Lori and next-out stakes show horse Be Sneaky. The cutback in distance is a positive, too… #7 Sail Above (3-1) makes her debut for trainer John Servis; she’s a full sister to Grade 1 winner Centralintelligence and the local up-and-comer Dreams Untold… #1 Tipsy Chatter (15-1) is a daughter of young sire Bourbon Courage, and her only sibling, Caravel, is four-for-five with two stakes wins in her brief career, also for trainer Elizabeth Merryman… #2 Thegoddessofsnakes (8-1) didn’t impress on debut, but let’s not hold that against her too much: the top four from the Small Wonder all returned to finish in the exacta in their next starts, including a stakes winner and a stakes runner-up; winner Street Lute won the Smart Halo at Laurel the other day. This one gets Lasix today for the first time…
Race 93-5-4-1ANice field set for this open allowance contest, and it’s also a field that has a ton of early types; the pace should be fast and contentious. Who might that advantage? How about the improving #3 Whistling Birds (10-1)? The Lou Linder trainee scored a big upset last time out in a three-other-than, and while the cutback in distance doesn’t seem ideal, the pace scenario might be, and the price should be right… Of course, the speedy #5 Share the Ride (9-5) is one who’ll be involved early and could prove too good for these; nothing wrong with his last couple in graded company… How can you not love a horse like the redoubtable seven-year-old, #4 Dr Blarney (7-2)? The Dublin gelding has won 22 of 31 starts, and while a big chunk of his wins have come against fellow Massachusetts-breds, he’s made several productive forays into tougher company… The full brothers #1 Midnightcharly and #1A Midtowncharlybrown (6-1) draw the inside posts, with the latter appearing better…

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