Loose horse going wrong way leads to ‘scary situation’ at Parx

Jockeys avoided an ominous outcome at Parx on Monday when a loose horse ran up the homestretch just as the field in the eighth race turned his way. That forced the riders to pull up their horses, and the race was declared no contest.

Sir Rob Roy, who had the inside post in the field of seven 3-year-old geldings, dismounted rider Jacqueline Davis when he made an abrupt left turn about 150 yards into the six-and-a-half-furlong race. He left the view of the track’s pan camera when he bolted where the backstretch chute meets the main track at the end of the clubhouse turn. Parx did not post the head-on video.

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Warning lights on the rail were activated before the rest of the field got through the first quarter-mile. As the horses raced through the turn, track announcer Jessica Paquette said emergency sirens had been activated and “Sir Rob Roy, he’s actually loose, going towards the horses ... being pulled up by the outrider.”

The jockeys who still were racing began to realize the problem as they turned into the stretch, leaving a gap down the middle of the track where Sir Rob Roy and two outriders were coming at them. Frankie Pennington, who was riding Showtime Matinee near the lead, appeared to yell in the direction of Eliseo Ruiz on front-running Chilling Zensation. Pennington then veered out before Showtime Matinee took him diagonally toward the rail, narrowly avoiding the path of the oncoming outriders.

There was no immediate information available about the condition of Davis, whom Paquette said “got up” after taking the fall. Her only later ride Monday was scratched.

“The bravery it takes an outrider to gallop directly into oncoming traffic to catch a loose horse and avert disaster is remarkable,” Paquette wrote on X. “Scary situation.”

Sir Rob Roy, a maiden owned by Touchdown Stable and Kamikaze Stable and trained by Phil Aristone, raced out of the backstretch chute three times before. It was the first time, though, the Pennsylvania-bred son of Coal Front had started from post 1.