{"id":288127,"date":"2026-09-17T12:58:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T12:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288127\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T12:58:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T12:58:29","slug":"eyeing-an-8-1-longshot-to-win-2026-pennsylvania-derby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/288127\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyeing an 8-1 Longshot to Win 2026 Pennsylvania Derby"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 46th running of the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby<\/a>, part of an incredible card on Saturday at Parx Racing\u00a0<\/a>that features eight stakes races, drew a field of 11 3-year-old males. Nine of the entrants are stakes winners and just two colts in this field competed in a Triple Crown race this year. In the last 10 editions of the Pennsylvania Derby, five were won by horses who did not compete in a single Triple Crown race. Last year\u2019s winner was Baeza <\/a>for the late John Shirreffs<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at the field from the rail out:<\/p>\n

Zihnal<\/a>, a Quality Road gelding trained by Jonathan Thomas<\/a>, is fresh off a 6 \u00bc-length victory in the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby<\/a> on Aug. 9 going this same 1 1\/8-mile distance. Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez<\/a> will be back aboard. Iron Honor<\/a> finished second in the Preakness Stakes<\/a> and ran third last time out in the Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes<\/a> on a sloppy track at Monmouth Park<\/a>. The Nyquist colt is trained by Chad Brown<\/a> and will have a jockey switch to Jose Ortiz<\/a>. Our Moneyman<\/a>, purchased for $2 million by KAS Stables on July 14, finished second in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby <\/a>last time out. The Louisiana-bred remains in the Bret Calhoun<\/a> barn with new silks and has never run out of the money from nine career starts. Igniter<\/a>, trained by Richard Dutrow Jr.<\/a>, won the Ellis Park Derby by four lengths last time in front-running fashion. Withers Stakes and New York Derby winner Talk to Me Jimmy<\/a> finished second in the New York-bred Albany Stakes last time out on a sloppy Saratoga <\/a>track for trainer Rudy Rodriguez<\/a>. The Puma<\/a> will be making his third start off a layoff after missing the Triple Crown. The Essential Quality colt won the Grade 3 ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby<\/a> and finished second by a nose in the Grade 1 Curlin Florida Derby Presented by Hill \u2018n\u2019 Dale Farms at Xalapa<\/a> before the layoff. In his most recent starts, he\u00a0finished fourth in both the Haskell and Grade 1 DraftKings Travers Stakes<\/a>. The 2-1 morning line favorite for the Pennsylvania Derby is Further Ado<\/a>, who also was the favorite in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve<\/a>. Since the first Saturday in May, the Gun Runner colt won the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes<\/a> at Churchill Downs<\/a> in June and finished fifth in the Haskell last time out. Flavien Prat<\/a> will be aboard for trainer Brad Cox<\/a>. Freedom\u2019s Echo<\/a> will be making his sixth start at Parx in his seventh race, and his first at the graded level. Last time Freedom\u2019s Echo finished third behind Pennsylvania Derby contenders Micanopy and Ponder and Dream in the Smarty Jones Stakes on Aug. 18. After being sidelined for nearly 11 months after his career debut, Sassmaster <\/a>has won two straight races as a 3-year-old. The Curlin colt trained by Todd Pletcher<\/a> won an allowance at Saratoga last time out on AUg. 1 going this same 1 1\/8-mile distance.\u00a0Tyler Gaffalione<\/a>\u00a0picks up the mount after Prat opted to ride Further Ado. Micanopy <\/a>will try to make it 2-for-2 on the Parx main track after winning the Smarty Jones Stakes by 1 \u00bd lengths last time. Paco Lopez<\/a> will be in the irons for the first time. Ponder and Dream<\/a>, the only Pennsylvania-bred in the field, is 9-for-9 in the money at Parx in his career, including a 14 \u00be-length romp in the Lil E. Tee Stakes on July 18 for trainer Robert Reid Jr.<\/a>. Parx leading rider Mychel Sanchez<\/a> will be aboard.<\/p>\n

Analysis and Main Contenders: <\/p>\n

At 8-1 on the morning line, Our Moneyman<\/a> provides terrific value for a consistent colt who has shown\u00a0promise. Our Moneyman has never run out of the money from nine career starts and comes out of a key race that produced multiple graded stakes winners. In the Indiana Derby on July 11, Our Moneyman was squeezed at the start and shuffled back to last but quickly made up lost ground throughout the race. In\u00a0addition to\u00a0the tough start, jockey Axel Concepcion lost his crop at the sixteenth pole yet Our Moneyman was still able to unleash a brilliant rally and finish second by just a neck to Leading Change<\/a>, who came back to post an upset victory in the Travers in his next start. Zihnal finished behind Our Moneyman in fourth in the Indiana Derby and came back to dominate the\u00a0West Virginia Derby in his next start. Our Moneyman started his career at Churchill Downs last September before going on to break his maiden at Keeneland <\/a>in October. He shipped down to Fair Grounds<\/a> for the winter and competed in four consecutive state-bred stakes races, including a second in the Joseph R. Peluso Memorial Stakes and a win in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile Stakes, both at\u00a0six furlongs. Our Moneyman started 2026\u00a0with a second-place finish in the Louisiana Futurity, again at six furlongs. Our Moneyman really started to come into his own in March when stretching out to a two-turn route for the first time in the Crescent City Derby at Fair Grounds. Our Moneyman went on to win by three-quarters of a length and improved his Equibase Speed Figure from 79 to 92. He again improved his speed figure in an allowance race at Churchill Downs in May, earning a 95 for his third-place finish racing 1 1\/16 miles. In June, Our Moneyman made his graded stakes debut in the Matt Winn and made a solid effort to run second to Further Ado while regressing a bit in speed figures to a 92. Last time out, Our Moneyman earned a career-best 100 Equibase Speed Figure\u00a0to narrowly run second in the Indiana Derby. Just three days after that race, the son of Mr. Money, who stands for $2,500, was purchased for $2 million\u00a0by KAS Stables and will be making his first start in the new silks. Axel Concepcion has been aboard Our Moneyman for all nine career starts, however Manny Franco<\/a>, who has been red-hot all summer and won his first Saratoga riding title along with four Grade 1 wins in the meet, will be aboard. This is an interesting move for trainer Bret Calhoun, who has not had a single start with Franco over the last five years. Nonetheless, it is a notable positive that Franco will aboard and adds to the intrigue of this talented colt. Another positive is Our Moneyman\u2019s 107 late pace figure, which ranks first in this field. With proven consistency and ability to perform well in graded stakes while coming off a narrow second-place finish to the eventual Travers winner, Our Moneyman has a wonderful opportunity to find the winner\u2019s circle Saturday, especially considering he will be closing into a presumably hot pace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sassmaster <\/a>is an intriguing lightly raced Curlin colt offering tremendous value at\u00a010-1 odds on the morning line. Sassmaster started his career in August 2025, finishing fourth in a dirt sprint\u00a0at Saratoga before being sidelined for nearly 11 months. He returned in June, breaking his maiden on sloppy Churchill Downs track while stretching out to\u00a01 1\/16 miles and\u00a0improving his Equibase Speed Figure from a 68 to an 89. In his third career start, Sassmaster tried this 1 1\/8-mile distance in an allowance race at Saratoga and won by a length with a career-best 99 speed figure. Sassmaster has clearly come back in a big way and passed the 1 1\/8-mile test with flying colors. Despite his last race being at the allowance level, he will be running at the same 99 class rating and this could prove\u00a0a smart move by Pletcher, who has won at 32% from 41 starters over the last five years at Parx. Sassmaster also ranks second by late pace with a 105.5 rating and should be racing mid-pack before pouncing near the quarter-pole. While Sassmaster will be making his stakes debut at the Grade 1 level, this colt\u2019s potential and value are not to be ignored.<\/p>\n

Iron Honor<\/a> has raced consistently at a high level for trainer Chad Brown. He started his career 2-for-2, including a win in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes at a one-turn mile. After a rough start when seventh in the Wood Memorial in April, Iron Honor came back to finish second in the Preakness Stakes. He again ran well in the Haskell, finishing third behind Preakness winner Napoleon Solo<\/a>, who went on to run second by a half a length in the Travers. While 1 1\/8 miles\u00a0does not seem to be his preferred distance, Iron Honor has produced good efforts and run\u00a0in the money in Grade 1 races. He should be able to race just behind the early leaders and could be able to yet again run in the money. A notable equipment change is the switch back to blinkers, which he wore in his first three career starts but not in the Preakness or the Haskell. Over the last three years, Brown wins at 25% from 126 starters with horses adding blinkers. Prat, who was aboard Iron Honor\u2019s two most recent starts, opts to ride Further Ado, however, Iron Honor receives a quality\u00a0replacement in the leading rider in North America, Jose Ortiz. At 5-1 on the morning line, Iron Honor also presents solid value.<\/p>\n

The rest of the field (with best Equibase Speed Figure\u00a0in similar races):\u00a0Zihnal <\/a>(95), Igniter<\/a>\u00a0(97), Talk to Me Jimmy<\/a> (98), The Puma<\/a> (100), Further Ado<\/a> (107), Freedom\u2019s Echo<\/a> (88), Micanopy <\/a>(96) and Ponder and Dream<\/a> (94).<\/p>\n

Win Contenders in Preference Order:<\/p>\n

Our Moneyman<\/a><\/p>\n

Sassmaster <\/a><\/p>\n

Iron Honor<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 46th running of the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby, part of an incredible card on Saturday at Parx…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-288127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}