By Dick Jerardi
Carmelina had star potential from the start and, now as a 4-year-old, she has delivered with the two best performances of an already stellar career. The appropriately named Houghton Shuffle is the latest in an endless string of talented Pennsylvania Breds from the Houghtons’ Sylmar Farm in Christiana, Pa.
Those were your winners of the $100,000 Pa. Bred stakes on a somewhat gloomy Fathers Day at Parx where, despite the weather, the stars came out for the National Thoroughbred League (NTL) and the building and picnic area were packed.
Trainer Butch Reid had half the six-horse field in the $100,000 6-furlong Unique Bella Stakes, but the bettors had little doubt about the best of the trio. Carmelina, a three-time stakes winner, was sent off at 2-5.
When Reid’s Disco Ebo, who looked like a lone speed, missed the break, Carmelina and jockey Paco Lopez found themselves in front. Despite being hounded much of the trip, Carmelina pulled away in the stretch, winning by a comfortable 2 1/2 lengths and running the distance in a solid 1:10.19. Reid’s Confirmed Star closed late to be second while Disco Ebo finished fourth.
Carmelina cost just $44,000 and has already won 10 times her purchase price. Owners Chuck Zacney and Glenn Bennett were in the winner’s circle picture along with a rather large contingent of friends and family.
Carmelina is by Maximus Mischief, the hot stallion that Bennett and Zacney raced. MM has already thrown 254 winners with $11.6 million in earnings. That would include two-time Grade I winner Raging Torrent, winner of the recent Met Mile and Parx star filly Irish Maxima who got the better of Carmelina when they raced against each other last September at Laurel Park.
“We’re really optimistic,” Zacney said. “We gave her some time off. We’re a big believer that a little patience goes a long way. We’ve got a good campaign set up.”
That she is by Maximus Mischief only adds to the excitement.
“I call him the inexpensive Into Mischief,” Zacney said. “He’s throwing runners, really, really a nice stallion.”
Reid was equally enthusiastic about Carmelina.
“I think she’s moved to a new level,’’ the trainer said. “She’s grown up. She looked great in the paddock, healthy, got a lot of weight on her. Paco’s really excited about it so that’s a good thing. He wants to follow her wherever she goes. We’ll be moving up into some open company here right quick.”
The $100,000 Page McKenney Handicap looked much more even on paper and played out that way. The seven horses had combined to win 43 races and earn $2.5 million. Ninetyprecentmaddie, trained by Reid and owned by Bennett’s LC Racing, was the slight 2-1 favorite. Four others were between 7-2 and 9-2.
Trained by Bernie Houghton and owned and bred by his sister-in-law Melissa Houghton, Houghton Shuffle is out an unraced mare named Runs Like L. All she has done in her broodmare career is produce horses that have run 282 times with 49 wins, 39 seconds and 40 thirds for earnings of $1.2 million.
Houghton Shuffle’s entire career had been spent at his Penn National home base until he was shipped to Parx for an optional claimer on May 5. He ran a really strong second that day, beaten just a neck by Buccherino who may be the very best horse stabled at Parx today. Houghton Shuffle was 20-1 that day, but, off that performance, was 4-1 in the stakes.
Jockey David Cora did not expect to be sixth early, but when Houghton Shuffle got squeezed at the start, that’s exactly where he found himself. The horse, however, just started running and never stopped. He kept coming around the turn and through the stretch, just relentless until he caught up to Kohler’s near the wire and went on to win by one-half length.
“I knew we wanted to be close because he was training good,” Cora said. “I had problems from the gate…This is a big horse with a big heart…I knew the last quarter mile I was going to win.”
Cora has won 2,685 races in his 25-year career with mount earnings of $34 million. He has ridden Houghton Shuffle in all 12 of his starts. With this win, Houghton Shuffle became the first horse to earn more than $200,000 with Cora riding. Coming from Penn Nat, the jockey does not get many shots at $100,000 stakes
“Not happen often,” Cora agreed. “I’m so happy.”
Houghton Shuffle ran the distance in 1.10.33 even after that start. Don’t know if he will turn out as good as Parx mainstays Whistle Pig and Banjo Picker who came off Sylmar Farm to rack up a combined 33 wins and provide the Houghtons with hundreds of thousands in breeder awards. But after 12 starts, 6 wins and now his first stakes win, it is pretty clear that Houghton Shuffle is really good.
So, two very deserving stakes winners on a day that included appearances by sports celebrities like basketball Hall of Famer Julius Erving and horse racing Hall of Famer Jose Santos as part of “Philly Legends Race Day.” It all culminated with the three NTL races, which came to Parx for the first time last year. The NTL is an interesting concept that has some serious backers and well-known celebrities behind the 10 teams which represent different areas of the country.
