For Immediate Release: Saturday, July 25, 2015 215.639.9000 ext. 3290 or 3329 Contact: Keith Jones, Announcer – Philadelphia Park @ kjones@parxracing.com
SAHAM IMPRESSIVE IN WINNING CROWD PLEASER Power By Far Goes to Kiss the Daddy
Saturday Parx Racing hosted two state-bred stakes on the grass, the $75,000 Crowd Pleaser Handicap and the $75,000 Power By Far Handicap. Chad Schumer’s Saham rallied from just off the pace for a convincing win in the Crowd Pleaser while Kiss the Daddy overcame traffic and trouble to win the Power By Far.
In the Crowd Pleaser, a one mile and one-sixteenth test for PA-bred three year-olds, Saham chased front running Roxbury N Overton for the first three-quarters of a mile before beginning his decisive rally with three furlongs to run. Away well from the gate under winning jockey Frankie Pennington, Saham had the two-path and sat third as the field moved into the first turn and raced comfortably in that position for the entire run down the backstretch. Asked to move entering the far turn, the Lemon Drop Kid colt slowly began to cut into a two length lead and drew abreast of the leader as they came to the quarter pole. Still just under a hand ride, Saham came off the final turn and when finally roused by Pennington, immediately responded with a burst that put the race away. He quickly drew clear with an eighth of a mile to go and was in full stride coming down to the wire. Cat Humor rallied from the back to get up for second, but never got close to Saham who rolled home a two and a half length winner. Off as the 6-5 favorite, he paid $4.60 to win for trainer Brendan Walsh and finished out in 1:42.90 over a course labeled firm.
The Power By Far Handicap, a five furlong turf sprint for PA-bred older fillies and mares went to Knew Stable’s Kiss the Daddy. The win was probably better than it will look on paper as the 5 year-old Scat Daddy mare encountered some trouble entering the far turn and then weaved through some traffic in the stretch before surging to victory with less than a sixteenth of a mile to go. Breaking from the inside gate in the ten horse field under Hector Caballero, Kiss the Daddy hustled away in the opening furlong and found herself fourth just a length off the leaders in the charge down the backstretch. Nearing the far turn, she steadied briefly and suddenly found herself three lengths behind. Keeping her inside position around the far turn, she began to regather her momentum and got herself back into contention as they turned into the stretch. Able to angle off the rail to get clear of the tiring leader, Silver Tresor, who had just given up the lead to a rallying 11-1 longshot, Previous Honor, Kiss the Daddy split those two and surged to the lead with a sixteenth to go. She quickly moved away from Previous Honor and flashed under the wire, winning by three-quarters of a length. Trained by John Dunn, she went off at a square price of 9-2 and paid $11.60 to win, covering the five furlongs in :57.57.
