By Dick Jerardi
Every year on the Parx racing calendar, there are major days that are anticipated from the moment one year turns to the next – Pennsylvania Derby Day, Smarty Jones Stakes Day, Pennsylvania’s Day at the Races and, every October, Parx Hall of Fame and Ballezzi Appreciation Mile Day. On a crisp Tuesday afternoon when autumn was no longer a hint, one accomplished trainer and one accomplished horse were introduced as the newest HOF members and the horse that was the most eye-catching on this year’s Pa. Derby Day card showed up with yet another really good performance to win the Ballezzi.
Carlos Guerrero, after training horses for 35 years, was honored for a lifetime in the business which has included his winning 260 races in a two-year period (2010-11), winning a Breeders’ Cup race in 2019 and just generally finding a way to keep horses in top form for long periods of time.
“Working for 20 some years here, working hard, we’ve done pretty good,” said Guerrero in the very crowded winner’s circle after the ceremony, with his wife Lisa by his side. “I really appreciate that they put me in the Hall of Fame.”
Lisa has been every bit of a partner with her husband and the honor was emotional for her as well.
“It’s a very proud moment for me,” she said. “After 30 years together and 28 years here at Parx. When it was Philadelphia Park, we came and this was where we were going to be for a very long time and raise our family and stay close to home.”
The trainer won that BC Dirt Mile at Santa Anita with Spun to Run, but his all-time favorite horse is Max West.
“He was the best,” Guerrero said. “He had a personality. After he retired from racing, we used him as a pony.”
Max West raced from 2002 until 2009, 64 times in all, with 10 wins, nine seconds and six thirds. The horse earned $184,330 with Guerrero as the trainer and that included the 2006 Turf Monster at Parx.
Beren ran 35 times between 2020 and 2024. He was in the top three 24 times. He won seven stakes. In a sport where consistency is elusive, Beren proved the exception. He just kept running one strong race after another until he had amassed $944,890 in earnings for owners St. Omer’s Farm (Susan Quick) and Christopher Feifarek. Trained by Butch Reid and ridden 22 times by Frankie Pennington, Beren is certainly among the best and most popular horses to have run at Parx in the 2020s. And when he appeared on the ballot, the voters knew he had to be in the Parx HOF.
“Beren is one of those horses that put everything on the line,” Pennington said. “He was such a natural athlete and loved to do his job. And he was beautiful at doing it.”
In the last decade, nobody at Parx has trained more quality horses than Reid. Beren was definitely on the high quality list.
“He gave it everything he had every time, especially if there was a little water on the track,” the trainer said.
Both owners were there for the ceremony, savoring the moment and the memories.
“It was so exciting,” Feifarek said. “He was always hitting the board every time. When he didn’t win, he was still right up there…Hopefully, he was a fan favorite because he was my favorite.”
Quick was a bit reluctant to be interviewed, but when she agreed and spoke about Beren, the pride was obvious.
“It was a fun time,” she said.
She has had other nice horses, but Beren “was the best.”
Wild Vine made such an incredible far turn move in the Parx Dirt Mile that it felt like the other horses were in slow motion. Trainer Jamie Ness was not shocked. In fact, the horse was doing so well he considered running him the day before in the Jockey Club Gold Cup against Forever Young.
The trainer chose to stay at Parx and was rewarded with the biggest purse win of his career. Wild Vine walked out of his stall again to win the Ballezzi. This far turn move wasn’t quite as devastating, but it was equally effective as Wild Vine won for the 13th time in 32 starts, most of them after Ness claimed the horse for $55,000 on February 28, 2025. In the intervening 20 months, Wild Vine has earned $492,720 for the Ness barn.
“This was a workmanlike race today,” Ness said. “I’m proud of him. He didn’t dazzle like he did last time, but you can’t do it every time…He’s 7-years-old that’s the best thing about it and he’s doing better than ever.”
Indeed he is, and if Wild Vine keeps this form a bit longer, there may come a time when the horse is on that Parx Hall of Fame ballot.
