Parx: Il Miracolo chases slow pace, lugs, wins Smarty Jones

Il Miracolo was not deterred by his wide draw or even his even wider lugging down the homestretch. With jockey Luis Sáez struggling to keep him on a straight line, the Gun Runner colt still finished a winner by three lengths Tuesday in the Grade 3, $300,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at Parx Racing.

The 1 1/16-mile race that attracted eight 3-year-olds was a prep for next month’s $1 million Pennsylvania Derby (G1).

Click here for Parx Racing entries and results.

Owned by Eduardo Soto and trained by Antonio Sano, Il Miracolo (7-2) stalked three wide behind post-time favorite Army Times (5-2) and Ninetyprcentmaddie (24-1). Racing at a slow pace, they stayed in that order until the second turn, when Sáez called for more. By the time they reached the five-sixteenths pole, Il Miracolo had the lead.

Cagliostro (3-1), an Upstart colt trained by Cherie DeVaux, had been lurking throughout in fourth. He wheeled through the turn and moved into contention turning for home but could do no better than second. He finished 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Daydreaming Boy (9-1), who closed from seventh to come in third. Adero (15-1) closed to a distant fourth followed in order by Ninetyprcentmaddie, Army Times, Victory Way (3-1) and Movisitor (17-1).

The winning time was 1:48.59 on the fast dirt following pedestrian, early fractions of 24.31, 49.22, 1:14.64 and 1:41.39. Il Miracolo paid $9.60, $5.40 and $4.00; Cagliostro $3.80 and $3.40; and Daydreaming Boy $5.00.

A $70,000 purchase at an Ocala Breeding Sale in June 2022, Il Miracolo came back from a second-place finish to Travers Stakes (G1) entrant Scotland in the $135,000 Curlin, a listed stakes July 21 at Saratoga. Before that he was a distant seventh in the Belmont Stakes. His two previous wins came in a 2-year-old maiden race in November and in a $100,000 allowance race May 11, both at Gulfstream Park.