Race 14 at Parx Racing | Saturday, September 19 | Post Time: 5:48 PM Eastern

Pennsylvania Derby – Grade 1 | Purse: $1 Million | One Mile and One-Eighth | Three-Year-Olds

Top Win Contender(s): Our Moneyman (3), Zihnal (1), Further Ado (7), Igniter (4)

There are four horses that can win among these 11 horses: Our Moneyman (3), Zihnal (1), Further Ado (7), and Igniter (4), with three of the four having odds starting at 8 to 1, while Further Ado opens at 2 to 1.

I’ll start with Our Moneyman, who missed by a neck in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby on July 11. That race was won by Leading Change, who just won the Grade 1 Travers Stakes. Our Moneyman and Leading Change battled in the final eighth, and Our Moneyman might have won except that his jockey dropped the crop at the sixteenth. Our Moneyman earned his career-best Equibase Speed Figure. He gets Manny Franco for the first time, the leading jockey of the 2026 Saratoga meeting and holder of the new record of winning 73 races, breaking the record set in 2012. Franco chose Our Moneyman over Talk to Me Jimmy, who he had ridden for his last three races, finishing second or better in all three. Before the Indiana Derby, Our Moneyman finished second to Further Ado. Given that Our Moneyman is every bit as good as Further Ado and that his starting odds are 8 to 1, he is my top pick.

Zihnal just won the West Virginia Derby at the mile-and-one-eighth distance. He had previously finished fourth in the Indian Derby, four lengths behind Our Moneyman. Still, Zihnal improved in the West Virginia Derby, earning a 95 figure, and is one of only four in the field who have won at this distance. Jockey John Velazquez rode Zihnal the first time in his last race. Zihnal gets the rail, where he can save ground and he should run well.

Further Ado had his best race when he won the Blue Grass Stakes in April, powering home by 11 lengths and earning a 107 figure. We can put a line in the Kentucky Derby, where he was bumped, made it to ninth after a quarter of the race, and moved up to fourth after the mile, before he finished 11th. Then he won the Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes on June 7, rebounding, but he earned only a 95 figure. He ran poorly when he was sent off as the favorite in the Haskell, stalking third for much of the race and finished fifth. Flavien Prat is riding Further Ado for the first time when he and trainer Brad Cox won the Travers over Leading Change.

I suspect Igniter will be the early pacesetter, as he was second, one length behind the leader, at the half in the Ellis Park Derby when the half-fraction was 46.2. Jockey Luis Saez rode him the first time in that race, and they are going to use the colt’s speed. The Ellis Park Derby was the horse’s first route of the year, in his third race off a layoff, and he earned a career-best 93 figure. Igniter also has a good possibility to improve.

Win bet: Our Moneyman (3) at odds of 5 to 2 or higher.

Zihnal (1) and Igniter (4) at odds of 7 to 2 or higher.

Exacta:

These two exactas are the key to exotic wagers:

Our Moneyman (3) over Zihnal (1), Further Ado (7), Igniter (4)

Zihnal (1), Further Ado (7), Igniter (4) over Our Moneyman (3)

We could also play a box of the other three horses: Zihnal (1), Further Ado (7), Igniter (4)