Region’s Best

FIRST STAR: LONESOME BOY. Parx hosted a pair of stakes races for 3-year-olds on Tuesday. The City of Brotherly Love, for colts and geldings, went to Washington-bred Lonesome Boy, who scored by 6 3/4 lengths. He pressed Le Vin from that rival’s outside in the early stages, then moved to engage as they went up the backstretch. As they moved into the stretch, Lonesome Boy took control and pulled away for the victory, covering a mile and 70 yards in 1:44.60 over a sloppy track. It took seven tries for him to break his maiden, but he’s now won three of his last four starts. He’s owned by John Parker, trained by Hugo Padilla, and ridden by Adam Bowman.

SECOND STAR: JEANNE MARIE. One race prior, 3-year-old fillies had the spotlight in the Main Line Stakes. 13-10 favorite Jeanne Marie, a Pennsylvania-bred homebred for Cash is King LLC and LC Racing LLC, went straight to the front and kept on going from there, hitting the line 2 1/2 lengths in front while running a mile and 70 yards in 1:45.88. She broke her maiden at second asking on July 17 at Parx, but did not race again until her Main Line victory. The Main Line also marked the Butch Reid trainee’s first start beyond 4 1/2 furlongs. Mychel Sanchez had the winning mount on Tuesday.

THIRD STAR: HAY CHIEF. Saturday’s feature at Laurel Park was a second-level race going one mile. Deep closer Hay Chief took full advantage of the long one-turn mile stretch to win by a head. He rated 14 1/2 lengths off the early lead at the opening quarter point, leading only notoriously deep closer Armando R. Hay Chief remained 7 1/2 lengths out of it at the top of the stretch, but continued to close under Angel Cruz while staying close to the rail, and got up to nail Tops the Chart in the last few strides. He ran a mile over a sloppy track in 1:40.26 to improve to 5-for-20 lifetime and 2-for-3 on the year. Bred in Virginia by Christopher Elser, this gelding is owned by Mi Patria Racing and J R Sanchez Racing Stable and trained by Rudy Sanchez-Salomon.

Laurel Park

FIRST STAR: HAY CHIEF. Continued a strong start to the year with a Saturday feature win.

SECOND STAR: PATTY CAKES. Made it three wins in a row later on the Saturday card with a sharp second-level win over fellow fillies and mares.

THIRD STAR: CAITLIN KEIL. Earned her first career training win on Saturday with Fainor’s Filets, whom she also owns.

Charles Town Races

FIRST STAR: DIVINE FASHION. The country’s co-winningest horse in 2023 improved 2-for-3 on the year with a starter allowance win on Friday, getting up over Emberly for a half-length victory.

SECOND STAR: NO LOVE FOR JUBA. Made it three in a row on Saturday with a gate-to-wire allowance victory.

THIRD STAR: ARNALDO BOCACHICA. Turned a riding hat trick on Friday’s card as part of a 4-win week. He holds a 34-25 lead over Abnel Bocachica.

Parx Racing

FIRST STAR; LONESOME BOY. One of the best Washington-bred 3-year-olds we’ve seen in a while.

SECOND STAR: JEANNE MARIE. Ran a huge race for her first effort in 7 1/2 months; could be another Pennsylvania-bred filly to keep an eye on.

THIRD STAR: COUNTERSPY. Sat the trip and drew off to beat a first-level sprint field on Monday as the even-money choice for his second consecutive victory.