Siblings Diamond King, Bellafina Run Sept. 21 at Parx

Two siblings competing on the same card is rare enough. Rarer still, two entered in major stakes, but that is the case at Parx Racing Sept. 21 when full siblings Diamond King and Bellafina compete roughly an hour apart as part of the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) program. The pair, progeny of Quality Road  and out of the Malibu Moon  mare Akron Moon, start in the Parx Dirt Mile Stakes and Cotillion Stakes (G1), respectively.

Although neither is favored, both are contenders, with Diamond King listed as a 5-1 shot on the morning line for the $150,000 Parx Dirt Mile and Bellafina tabbed at 6-1 to win the $1 million Cotillion.

Regardless of the outcomes, both have already been successes. Four-year-old Diamond King won the Heft Stakes and Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park as a younger horse and has placed in six graded stakes, and 3-year-old Bellafina has three grade 2 and three grade 1 scores, including the Santa Anita Oaks (G1) this spring.

Diamond King is matched against 2019 graded winners Coal Front and Monongahela in the Parx Dirt Mile, which offers the chance for his richest stakes payday and comes over a Parx surface where he has compiled a record of two wins and a second from three starts. A speedy colt, Diamond King seeks his first stakes win of the year.

"Diamond King, I think, has always been on the cusp of getting it, just not quite there," said the siblings' proud breeder, Joe Minor of JSM Equine.

In addition to the owners of Diamond King and Bellafina, Minor would benefit if either wins Saturday. He owns Akron Moon in partnership with Mandy Pope and Goncalo Borges Torrealba of Three Chimneys Farm. Minor said they became partners in a private transaction after she fell short of her reserve last year when bidding halted at $2.7 million at The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's mixed sale. While in foal to Quality Road, she was purchased by Minor for $175,000 from Sweezey & Partners' consignment at the 2014 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Diamond King, owned by Cash is King and LC Racing and trained by John Servis, is reunited with jockey Jose Ortiz, who rode him to an allowance victory at Gulfstream Park March 22 and to a third-place finish behind Monongahela in the Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park June 22. Most recently, the colt ran fifth when tried on grass for the first time in the Red Bank Stakes (G3T) at Monmouth.

He was a $235,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale by Charles Zacney of Cash Is King from the consignment of Wavertree Stables.

Heavily favored at even money for the Parx Dirt Mile is Coal Front, a millionaire who took the Godolphin Mile Sponsored by Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum City—District One (G2) in Dubai March 30 at Meydan. He also won the Mr. Prospector Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream and Razorback Handicap (G3) at Oaklawn Park over the winter.

Coming off a distant third in the Monmouth Cup Stakes (G3) July 20, he seeks a return to top form at Parx, where he won the Gallant Bob Stakes (G3) as a 3-year-old in 2017.

"We want to see how he handles a two-turn mile, with that being an option at the Breeders' Cup," said trainer Todd Pletcher, referring to the Nov. 2 Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Santa Anita. "And with him being successful in the Gallant Bob as a 3-year-old, we know he likes the surface and the timing is good."

Pletcher believes the horse's loss in the Monmouth Cup, in which he was beaten 12 lengths, was under conditions that compromised him. 

"It was the day of the Haskell, insanely hot, and in retrospect, I probably should have scratched," he said. "He got pretty hot. Didn't handle the situation at all."

Mike Smith rides the 5-year-old son of Stay Thirsty  for owners Bob LaPenta and Head of Plains Partners.

The Parx Dirt Mile, carded as the eighth race, is set for a 4 p.m. ET start. The Cotillion follows a couple races later at 5:14 p.m.

In total, there are seven stakes Saturday at Parx, three of them graded. Besides the Parx Dirt Mile, the three other ungraded stakes are the Alphabet Soup Handicap and Plum Pretty Stakes, Pennsylvania-bred contests each carrying a $100,000 purse, and the $150,000 Turf Amazon Stakes, an open stakes race for fillies and mares sprinting five furlongs on grass.

Goldwood, riding a four-race win streak, is favored in the Turf Amazon over Kentucky shipper Change of Control.

Entries: Parx Dirt Mile S.

Parx Racing, Saturday, September 21, 2019, Race 8

• STK
• 1m
• Dirt
• $150,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 4:00 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Grasshoppin (PA)	Angel Castillo	119	Richard Vega	20/1
2	2Forewarned (OH)	UNKNOWN	119	Uriah St. Lewis	15/1
3	3Bonus Points (MD)	Joel Rosario	124	Michael J. Trombetta	8/1
4	4Monongahela (PA)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	124	Jason Servis	3/1
5	5Wild About Deb (KY)	John Bisono	119	Carl C. Jones	30/1
6	6Coal Front (KY)	Mike E. Smith	124	Todd A. Pletcher	1/1
7	7Golden Brown (NJ)	Paco Lopez	124	Patrick B. McBurney	10/1
8	8Diamond King (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	119	John C. Servis	5/1