Parx Picks | Cotillion Stakes 2024

Aaron previews the 2024 Cotillion Stakes (G1) at Parx Racing & gives his top win pick from Saturday’s co-headlining horse race.

Will Thorpedo Anna continue running roughshod over her fellow 3-year-old fillies in her final prep race for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff?

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The press release:

Already the likely champion 3-year-old filly of 2024, Thorpedo Anna returns to the ranks of the distaff set when she headlines Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing.

The Cotillion goes as the 12th of 14 races Saturday with a post time of 5:20 p.m. ET.

Trained by Kenny McPeek and owned by Brookdale Racing Inc., Mark Edwards, Judy B. Hicks and Sherri McPeek’s Magdalena Racing, Thorpedo Anna was made the 4-5 morning-line favorite for the 1 1/16-mile Cotillion by Parx’s Director of Racing and Racing Secretary David Osojnak. She will be ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr.

Thorpedo Anna is coming off a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, her first try against males. She lost a thrilling stretch drive with 2023 champion 2-year-old male Fierceness by a head.

The daughter of Fast Anna has won her other four starts this year by a combined 18 3/4 lengths. Three of those races – the Kentucky Oaks, Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks – were Grade 1s. Thorpedo Anna starts from post six in the field of eight.

Among the top challengers in the Cotillion are Lea Farms LLC’s Power Squeeze, who has won five of seven starts, including the Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga for trainer Jorge Delgado, Juddmonte’s Tarifa, winner of a pair of Grade 2 races this year (Fair Grounds Oaks and Rachel Alexandra Stakes) for trainer Brad Cox and the Bill Mott-trained Sidamara, another Juddmonte runner, who was second in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks, beaten a nose by Power Squeeze, in her last start.

The field for the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion at Parx, with jockeys and morning-line odds:

1. Power Squeeze, Irad Ortiz Jr., 4-1
2. Scalable, Paco Lopez, 10-1
3. Tarifa, Flavien Prat, 5-1
4. Everland, Luan Machado, 20-1
5. Sidamara, Jose Ortiz, 6-1
6. Thorpedo Anna, Brian Hernandez Jr., 4-5
7. Gun Song, John Velazquez, 10-1
8. Mystic Lake, Mike Smith, 12-1

The Pennsylvania Derby and Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion Stakes headline Saturday’s card that also includes the $400,000, Grade 2 Gallant Bob Stakes for 3-year-olds at 6 furlongs; the $300,000 Parx Dirt Mile Stakes for 3-year-olds and up; the $250,000 Grade 3 Turf Monster Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at 5 furlongs on the turf; the Grade 3, $200,000 Greenwood Cup for 3-year-olds and up 1 1/2 miles; and $100,000 Parx Sprint Stakes for 4-year-olds and up at 6 1/2 furlongs.

The card also features a pair of $100,000 events for Pennsylvania-bred and sired 2-year-olds in the Whistle Pig Stakes and Miss Blue Tye Dye Stakes; and the $100,000 Plum Pretty Stakes for Pennsylvania-bred fillies and mares 3-year-olds and up and $100,000 Alphabet Soup Handicap for Pennsylvania-bred 3-year-olds and up.