Post-time favorites fared poorly in the two three-year-old features at Parx on Tuesday, held over a track labeled fast but yielding very slow times all afternoon.
In the featured $300,000 Smarty Jones (G3), the local prep for next month’s Pennsylvania Derby (G1), Il Miracolo won comfortably by three lengths, though the Gun Runner colt drifted out noticeably throughout the stretch run.
Up the track in all five previous graded attempts, though recently second to Scotland in the restricted Curlin S. at Saratoga, Il Miracolo returned $9.60 after completing 1 1/16 miles in 1:48.59. He is owned by Eduardo Soto, trained by Antonio Sano, and was ridden by Luis Saez.
Cagliostro finished second, 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Daydreaming Boy. Army Times, favored at 2.8-1, finished sixth in the field of eight. Morning line favorite Salute the Stars was scratched.
In the $200,000 Cathryn Sofia S., Foggy Night outstayed longtime leader Yesternight to win by 2 1/4 lengths, also under Saez. The second choice in a field of seven fillies, Foggy Night covered one mile and 70 yards in 1:47.34.
The disappointment in the field was 17-10 favorite Southlawn, who finished 18 lengths behind the winner in sixth.
Owned by Pine Brook Farm and trained by Butch Reid, Foggy Night returned $7.20.
The Cathryn Sofia was the second career stakes win for Foggy Night, a Florida-bred daughter of Khozan. Foggy Night upset the Delaware Oaks (G3) on July 1 and was most recently a distant second in the Monmouth Oaks (G3). At two, Foggy Night placed in the Tempted S. at Aqueduct.
The Smarty Jones and Cathryn Sofia were two of the three stakes Saez won on Tuesday’s card. The other was the $100,000 Parx Dash aboard Nobody Listens.
