You Must Chill wins the Alphabet Soup Stakes at Parx.
Morris Kernan Jr., Yo Berb’s Racing, and Jagger Inc.’s You Must Chill closed the Pennsylvania Derby day by giving his connections their third win on the undercard in the $200,000 Alphabet Soup Stakes for state-breds at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa.
You Must Chill stayed within two lengths of the pacesetter Saratoga Jack before jockey Frankie Pennington angled the 5-year-old gelding to the outside at the top of the stretch, then made a strong run past Wait for It for the 1 ½-length victory while finishing the 1 1/16 mile race in 1:47.37 over a good turf course.
“He broke good and he put me in a forward position,” Pennington said. “He was dragging me the whole way. At the top of the stretch, it was a waiting game. Once I got out, he exploded.”
This was the first stakes victory for You Must Chill, who has won 4-for-5 races – both on dirt and turf at various distances – since Jamie Ness started training him.
“We always thought he was a grass horse,” Ness said. “Obviously, he had a couple of good races on the dirt. Finally, we finally got him on the grass. We had to go to Penn [National] to do it. He really ran on a bad turf course, but we knew he could handle the turf course.”
Along with You Must Chill, Ness, Pennington, and the partnership won a starter allowance with Sevier and the Greenwood Cup with Magic Michael as part of the Pennsylvania Derby undercard.
“All three wins were with all of my partners,” Ness said. “These are all local guys and this was their day. I am really happy for them.”
New to the Paulick Report? Click here to sign up for our daily email newsletter to keep up on this and other stories happening in the Thoroughbred industry.
Copyright © 2021 Paulick Report.
