By Dick Jerardi
Pennsylvania Derby Day 2026 will commence at 10:35 am and finish around 8 hours later. There will be 15 races, including eight stakes. There will be seven races worth $100,000 each and the stakes worth a combined $3.45 million for a cool $4.15 million in purses on the day.
Four Hall of Fame trainers (Todd Pletcher, Steve Asmussen, Bill Mott and Mark Casse) will have horses in the stakes. Two lock HOF inductees when eligible (Chad Brown and Brad Cox) will also be represented as will John Sadler (who should already be in the HOF) with his second-ever Parx starter.
The highlights, as always, will be the $1 million Grade I Cotillion and the $1 million Grade I Pennsylvania Derby which will go as races 13 and 14.
Always a Runner could become the sixth Kentucky Oaks winner to win the Cotillion. The five to have done it? Susan’s Girl (1972), Ashado (2004), Plum Pretty (2011), Untapable (2014) and Thorpedo Anna (2024).
Always a Runner has raced five times for Chad Brown with three wins and two seconds in her most recent races, the Acorn and CCA Oaks. She will almost certainly go favored off that consistent record.
My Miss Mo, Zany and Iron Orchard are all graded stakes winners. Measure finished second in the Alabama, just ahead of division leader Counting Stars. The 1-2 finishers from the Cathryn Sophia, the local prep, Tap to Open and Ms. Sophistication, were entered. If Tap to Open wins, her owner and trainer each get a $50,000 bonus for winning both races.
Further Ado, the 5-1 Kentucky Derby favorite, is the likely Pa. Derby favorite. When he’s good, like the 20-length win in a Keeneland maiden race last fall and an 11-length win in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland this spring, he is really good. He’s also won two stakes at Churchill Downs. But he was a badly beaten 11th in the Derby and a disappointing fifth when favored in the Haskell.
The Puma only has one win in six starts, but the Tampa Bay Derby winner has been competitive against the best in the division. Gotham Stakes winner Iron Honor was second in the Preakness and third in the Haskell. Each of those horses get blinkers for the first time in the Pa. Derby.
West Virginia Derby winner Zihnal and Ellis Park Derby winner Igniter are both live as is Our Moneyman who was second in the Indiana Derby to Travers winner Leading Change.
The 1-2 finishers from the Smarty Jones, the local prep, Micanopy and Ponder and Dream, return. If Micanaopy wins, the horse’s owner and trainer each get a $50,000 bonus for winning both races.
The 2023 Pennsylvania Derby winner Saudi Crown runs in the $300,000 Parx Dirt Mile. The horse will become the first Pa. Derby winner to run back at Parx since 1996 winner Devil’s Honor ran at the track in 2002. The 1-2 finishers from the 2025 Parx Dirt Mile, Nelson Avenue and Dilger, are back.
The $400,000 Gallant Bob appears wide open. The danger might be Captivator for John Sadler. The horse has California speed and improving speed figures.
There are a few significant anniversaries this year. It’s been 40 years since Broad Brush’s mad dash from first to last to first in the 1986 Pa. Derby, 30 years since Devil’s Honor became the last Parx-based horse to win the Pa. Derby and 10 years since the only time the Ky. Derby winner (Nyquist) and Preakness winner (Exaggerator) have run in the Pa. Derby.
The anticipation of what might happen is, in many ways, the essence of this sport. It is what makes the big race days such a critical element of the game. And, since the Pennsylvania Derby was moved to later in September 16 years ago (joined by the Cotillion in 2012) and augmented through the years by all the other stakes and an irresistible betting card, Pennsylvania Derby Day has become the biggest September day on the racing calendar in North America. This Saturday will be no different.
