Big Mac, “McKinzie” returns in the Pennsylvannia Derby and Monomoy’s Girl takes on all rivals in the Cotillion, this all happens at PARX.   Normally, I would have included these two races in my normal JJPPs, but due to some family situations, I was unable to do that in the JJPPs. So I will try to tackle them – for you – right here in this space.

First the Cotillion…

which is the 10th race on the PARX card.  Monomoy’s Girl puts her win streak on the line here.  And she is a beauty with a powerful stride.  But this is horse racing and horses with her impressive record are always terrible underlays.  Also, I like to remind everyone, the greatest horse of all time was probably Secretariat and he got beat 4 times.   The point is, while Monomoy’s Girl, I would only bet against her – if I was making a bet.  Here are a few horses I would NOT use, Wonder Gadot and Midnight Bisou, I would look elsewhere.  The only betting idea that appealed to me at all was SeparationofPowers for Chad Brown at 10/1.  Just the sound of Chad Brown’s horse at 10/1 has a certain appealing ring to it…  That’s if you must bet… and of course that is just my opinion…

Now onto the Pennsylvania Derby…

which is the 11th race on the card.  Let me first take you back to the spring, when I produced a 9 piece lead up to the Kentucky Derby, evaluating the best 3-year old colts in the land.  McKinzie was at the top of the list, even rated higher than the extremely lightly raced Justify.  And he was battle tough to boot, because unlike many “anointed” great horses before they actually face the best of their division, this colt did battle with other amazingly talented colts – and defeated them in hard fought battles.  Of course I am referring to Bolt ‘d’Oro but there were other really good colts – probably the ability level of a Bravz0 – who were miles back when this colt was being cooled out and led back to the barn for his “treats”.

As we carefully explained and demonstrated, this was one of the most talented years for colts, and McKinzie was simply at the top of the list in March, when he hurt his foot.   Now Baffert brings this amazing colt back to the races, and I would be saddened if he was anything less than 100%.  Could he lose today – I really don’t think so!

Let me say this one more time, this colt is probably as good as Justify and maybe a touch better, especially as they go out a distance… and the time off to heal —  should just be an opportunity for him to get bigger, faster and better…   I think you get my position here…. Go Big Mac…