By Dick Jerardi
The four stakes at Parx the day before Thanksgiving showcased a Pennsylvania breeder winning his first Pa. Bred stakes, a horse that is tied for the most wins in America this year, the return of the 2024 Pennsylvania Derby winning jockey and a horse that has won more than $400,000 since being claimed from the second start of his career.
Brian Schartz, a member of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders’ Association Board of Directors, was at a Timonium December 2021 Mixed Sale when a mare named So Innocent was being offered in foal to Blame. The mare had started 42 times with 6 wins on dirt and turf and earnings of nearly $200,000. She had been claimed several times.
“I loved Blame as a potential broodmare sire,” Schartz remembered. “I held my hand up at 8,000 bucks. I couldn’t believe that’s where the bidding stopped for a Blame mare (with that racing record),” Schartz said in the winner’s circle after that Pennsylvania bred foal, born a month after the sale, blew away a solid field to win the $100,000 Pennsylvania Nursery.
The foal was named Crab Daddy, eventually sent to Maryland where Linda Albert trains him at Laurel Park. The tape of his first start, a second in a Nov. 9 maiden race at Laurel, reveals a rather eventful trip at 45-1. The horse, a son of Uncle Lino, managed to finish a strong second despite just about everything going wrong under a 7-pound apprentice rider.
In the 7-furlong Nursery, Crab Daddy got the services of top jockey Ruben Silvera. When unbeaten (3-for-3) and 2-5 favorite The Boy’s Warrior got off to a terrible start and was rushed into a pace duel on the rail, the stage was set for an upset.
Silvera sent 12-1 Crab Daddy up the rail in the stretch and the horse did the rest, flying by the field to win by 3 3/4 lengths, with The Boy’s Warrior barely holding second over Baby Dukes in the 5-horse field.
“I started off breeding in Texas 20 some years ago and had a couple nice horses down there and moved everything out to Pennsylvania about 15 years ago,” said Schartz, who lives in Chadds Ford. “Finally getting to the winner’s circle in a Pa. Bred stakes race is a great feeling.”
Given how fast Crab Daddy ran (1:25.15, 76 Beyer figure), the horse may have won the race even if the favorite had not gotten off so badly. It was that impressive. It wasn’t Smarty Jones when he won the race by 15 lengths in 2003, but that was a one off anyway.
“I put a maiden in this race today because frankly we didn’t see any Smarty Jones on the nomination list,” Schartz said.
Crab Daddy was So Innocent’s first foal. He still has the mare, has a foal on the ground and another coming. That $8,000 mare is worth multiples more now that she has a stakes winner.
Jaime Torres, a Parx regular in 2023, returned from his Kentucky base to win the 2024 Pa. Derby on Seize the Grey. He returned again to win the $75,000 Turkey Trot on Warrior Johny for trainer Phil Bauer and owner Rigney Racing LLC.
Warrior Johny has run some great races his career, but has also had some real duds. The bettors believed he was in the right spot, sending the horse off at 3-5. It may or not have mattered, but it certainly did not hurt the favorite when 13-1 M.P. Ballezzi Appreciation MIle winner Concealed Carry and 8-1 Movisitor hooked up early and set very fast fractions in the 1 mile, 70-yard race.
Torres moved Warrior Johny into contention and the horse did the rest, winning by 2 3/4 lengths in 1:41.10 (98 Beyer). Concealed Carry ran a tremendous race to hold second, 7 lengths clear of Ninetyprcentmaddie in third. Irish Cork, who certainly would have been a contender at 9-2, lost jockey Frankie Pennington at the start.
“Every time I come here, I get very excited,” Torres said. “When I come here, I just want to win and celebrate with my people.”
In 2024, he had much to celebrate, especially the Preakness and Pa. Derby wins on Seize the Grey.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Torres said. “Been a dream. Just give me more and more.”
Leading trainer Jamie Ness and a few of his owners lost Spikezone for $50,000 in November 2022. They claimed the horse back the next month for $40,000, ran him once and gave him 10 months off. After two races late last year, all the horse has done in 2024 is run 14 times with 11 wins and 3 seconds.
The 5-year-old won the $75,000 Let’s Give Thanks Stakes the same way he did all the others – to the front and gone.
“He’s a cool horse to ride,” winning rider Mychel Sanchez said. “He gives you everything he has every single time… He has so much speed…He’s a fighter.”
It was 1 length clear for the 2-5 favorite at the end of the 6 1/2-furlong race over a very game 11-1 One More Scoop, with 9-1 Capo third.
The horse, who ran the distance in 1:17.08 (92 Beyer) has now won $378,082 in an amazing 2024 that has him tied with Tennessee Moon (won in Louisiana, Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado in 2024) for most wins in North America this year.
The Jersey bred mare Beach Daze, who was claimed out of her second start for $10,000 by trainer Farrell Mann and owners All In Racing LLC and JPS Stable, was a bit of an afterthought in the $75,000 Cornucopia. She was sent off at 10-1, with the Torres/Bauer/Rigney combo having the 4-5 favorite in Kentucky shipper Speedy Traveler and Confirmed Star the 8-5 second choice for owners LC Racing and Cash Is King and trainer Butch Reid.
One person at Parx who would never overlook Beach Daze is jockey Adam Bowman who has ridden her in her last 22 starts.
Bowman had the 5-year-old in perfect position the entire way in the 6 1/2 furlong race. And when he asked for everything in the stretch, she gave it to him, winning by a comfortable 1 1/2 lengths over Confirmed Star and then Speedy Traveler. She ran the distance in 1:17.75 (83 Beyer).
All Beach Daze has done since that claim three years ago is start 28 times with 8 wins, 8 seconds, 6 thirds and earnings of $431,960, a pretty solid return on that original $10,000 investment.
“It’s emotional for me,” Bowman said. “I love this filly, get on her every day and this is just special…She is my favorite. There is no other horse like her. I love her to death.”
Bowman’s birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year so the stakes win was “an early birthday present. Christmas is coming soon so Santa Claus has some presents for me.”
