By Dick Jerardi
When the Pennsylvania Derby was made a Grade I race by the graded stakes committee in December 2016, it marked the end of a 6-year-oddsey once the decision was made in 2010 to move Parx Racing’s signature race from Labor Day to later in September, 6 weeks before the Breeders’ Cup.
When Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome ran in the 2014 Pa. Derby, it cemented the race as a national September fixture. It was then just a question of when the race would go from a Grade II to a Grade I. When, in 2016, the race attracted both Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist and Preakness winner Exaggerator, it was just a question of how long after the committee met later that year that the announcement would be made.
Still, even when a race gets Grade I status, there is no guarantee it stays that way forever. Well, what happened Saturday evening at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai ensures the Pa. Derby will retain that Grade I status for the foreseeable future.
Yes, that was 2025 Pa. Derby runner-up Magnitude, going right to the front in the $12 million Dubai World Cup and staying there for the entire 1 1/4-mile trip, holding off the incredible Forever Young, two-time Saudi Cup winner and winner of the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic, merely the most accomplished dirt horse in the world.
Stakes race grades are determined by what the horses that run in the race have done before and then after the race. Well, having the second-place horse in your race win the second-richest race in the world while beating the only $30-million earner in history certainly polishes the resume.
And, in some ways, it felt like history repeating itself. In the 2016 Pa. Derby, the most accomplished horse in the race turned out not to be the winner Connect or the Derby or Preakness winners. It was the runner-up, a horse, like Magnitude, trained by Steve Asmussen, the man who has won more races (11,189) than anyone in North American history.
That would be Gun Runner who just like Magnitude won the Clark and Razorback Handicap after his Pa. Derby second. And just like Magnitude, Gun Runner went to the Dubai World Cup and ran an incredible race, only to finish second to Arrogate in what most observers consider to be the best single performance of the 21st Century.
Gun Runner never lost again. He won five consecutive Grade I races – the Stephen Foster, Whitney, Woodward, BC Classic, and Pegasus World Cup. The colt was voted 2016 Horse of the Year and is now enshrined in the Racing Hall of Fame. Also, a rather nice resume builder for the Pennsylvania Derby.
Even though Asmussen has never won the Pa. Derby, he has left an indelible mark on the race by helping ensure its Grade I future. By the way, Asmussen has won Parx’s other Grade I race, the Cotillion, a record five times (2012 My Miss Aurelia, 2014 Untapable, 2018 Midnight Bisou, 2021 Clariere, 2022 Society).
If, since the move, the Pa. Derby runners just included Gun Runner and Magnitude, that would be very impressive. But the race has produced a trio of 3-year-old champions: Pa. Derby winners Will Take Charge (2013) and West Coast (2017) as well as California Chrome who would also be named Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016.
The 2014 Pa. Derby winner, Bayern, won the BC Classic in his next start. The 2015 Pa. Derby winner Frosted ran out of the TV set the next year in the Metropolitan Mile. The 2022 Pa. Derby winner Taiba won the Santa Anita Derby before the race and the Malibu after it. The 2024 Pa. Derby was won by Preakness winner Seize the Grey.
And who knows exactly what Magnitude is going to do the rest of 2026? It would be no surprise if Asmussen tries to follow the same path Gun Runner took in 2017. And it appears as if 2025 Pa. Derby winner Baeza is nearing a race for new trainer Bill Mott following the death of trainer John Shirreffs.
Shirreffs was eating dinner at the Parx Casino in the week before last year’s race when he watched replays of some old Pa. Derbies.
“Look at all the great horses that have won it,” he said after his horse joined the list.
He could also have said: look at all the horses that have just run in it. Well, add Dubai World Cup winner Magnitude to the list.
