The Crowd Pleaser was one of two stakes for PA-breds on the track’s Turning for Home day honoring the local equine retirement program.

Beren perhaps caught a break when the race was taken off the turf and moved to the main track because of rain. It would have been the first turf start of his young career.

While it wasn’t his first turf start, it was the first two-turn effort of his career and couldn’t have been any easier. Under jockey Frankie Pennington, Beren stalked the early pace from third, took over rounding the far turn, shrugged off a brief challenge from Like a Saltshaker, and drew away to win by 9 ½ lengths in 1:44.89 over a good, sealed main track.

Like a Saltshaker held second, and Fire’s Finale was third. Beren paid $2.80 to win as the 2-5 post time favorite.

Trained by Butch Reid, Beren, rated the top Midlantic-bred three-year-old, was bred in Pennsylvania by Susan Quick and Christopher Feifarek and is owned by Feifarek and St. Omer’s Farm. He is out of the Diamond mare SIlmaril.

Two races later, Hey Mamaluke and jockey Silvestre Gonzalez spurted clear and held rivals safe to win the five-furlong Power by Far Stakes, also taken off the turf, by nearly two lengths in 57.66 seconds. Morning line favorite Caravel scratched because of the surface switch.

A five-year-old Jump Start mare, Hey Mamluke earned the first stakes win of her career in the Power by Far. A homebred for Joe Capriglione, she’s trained by Patricia Farro and now has seven wins from 18 career starts with earnings of $338,069.

The next stakes at Parx Racing are slated for August 23.