PARX PICKS AND HORSES TO WATCH: DEC. 29

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 12:25 p.m., and we’ve got Parx picks.

How’d we do last time at Parx?

RACE NUMBERCONTENDERSCOMMENTS
Race 53-9-7-6Top choice #3 Knockout Kick (9-2) just missed against maiden special weight foes on debut but then was off for 13 months. Last time out trainer Kathleen DeMasi found an easy spot to return to action, and the Shackleford gelding graduated by five after dueling a rival into submission. There’s other speed signed on, but this one enters looking good, and the runner-up from his last graduated next out… Good effort last time out for #9 Geebert (3-1) to win going away in a race where the early speed fell apart. This one just missed against similar two back and may very well get the right pace scenario to make it two straight wins… The formful #7 Strawberry Red (4-1) has won three of four with one inexplicable stinker thrown in. He’ll be gunning for the lead early… Let’s draw a line through that last one for #6 Stay Hydrated (15-1), who had some traffic issues last out when finishing up the track. HIs prior try was good against similar, and he seems to prefer this 7f distance to the three-quarters he raced last time…
Race 97-12-5-2The lesson in this contest is that if you throw 50 grand at horses that have started for a claiming price of $5,000 or less this year but have not won a race, you’ll get a bumper crop to face the starter: there are a full gate of a dozen in the main body, plus four more also-eligibles… Top choice #7 Superling (8-1) ran perhaps better than the result shows last time, rallying into fifth (and just missing fourth) after breaking from the far outside; she wasn’t really driven in the lane. That was her first time on dirt in over a year, and while that effort was nothing special, then again neither is the field she’ll see here… Top choice #12 Free Coffee (6-1) certainly fits here, with recent Beyer figs that are as good as any in the group. She’s also lost 17 times this year and seems to have some seconditis, and for good measure, she’ll have to overcome the far outside post (unless there are scratches to her inside)… #5 Big Red Seven (9-2) has four second-place finishes on her resume this year… #2 Bon Heir (10-1) was head-bobbing with our top choice last time and likes this distance…

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