2025 Cotillion Stakes Preview

Key takeaways:

• Scottish Lassie romped in the CCA Oaks and owns tactical versatility, but she’ll be a short price.
• Good Cheer cuts back to her best trip at 1 1/16 miles and should get a perfect stalking setup.
• La Cara has the speed to control the race at Parx Racing and offers more value than the other Grade 1 winners.
• Clicquot is an improving Indiana Oaks winner with the right style to take another step forward.
• Indy Bay brings consistency and Charles Town Oaks form, but must prove herself at the distance.

The jewel of the early-autumn season for sophomore fillies is the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion on Saturday, September 20 at Parx. The fillies’ complement of the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on the same day, the 1 1/16-mile dirt race perennially draws the best of the 3-year-old fillies’ division, and 2025 is no different.

The field of eight features three who have already proven their Grade 1 quality. Those include Kentucky Oaks winner Good Cheer, Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) winner Scottish Lassie, and Acorn (G1) winner La Cara. Those three are the proven top-level winners, but there are several exciting up-and-comers as well, including Indiana Oaks (G3) winner Clicquot and Charles Town Oaks (G2) winner Indy Bay.

An older tradition than the Pennsylvania Derby, the Cotillion was established in 1969 at Liberty Bell Park. The race had a top-class beginning, as the great Shuvee won that first edition. In 1974, the race was moved to Keystone Racetrack, the track we now know as Parx Racing and Casino, and it has been run there ever since.

After Shuvee, some of the most important winners include Hall of Famers Susan’s Girl and Ashado. Like the Pennsylvania Derby, the profile of the Cotillion has risen through the 2010s and early 2020s, with some of its more recent winners including Close Hatches, Untapable, Songbird, Midnight Bisou, and Thorpedo Anna.

Cotillion Stakes Information

• Race Date: Saturday, Sept. 20
• Track: Parx Racing in Bensalem, PA
• Post Time: 5:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
• Distance: 1 1/16 miles on the main track
• Age/Sex: 3-year-old fillies
• Where to Watch: FanDuel TV
• Where to Bet: FanDuel Racing

2025 Cotillion Stakes Draw and Odds

This is the field of eight three-year-old fillies entered in the 2025 Cotillion Stakes, including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and morning-line odds.

Cotillion Stakes Prep Race Results

The eight horses in the Cotillion come out of five different races, all of which are stakes.

Three horses come out of Grade 1 company at Saratoga. The only last-out Grade 1 winner is Scottish Lassie, who romped in the 1 ⅛-mile Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga on July 19. Two others come out of the 1 ¼-mile Alabama on August 16: though winner Nitrogen does not come to Pennsylvania, her stablemate La Cara comes out of a fourth-place finish in that race, and Good Cheer will try to do one better than her second-place outing.

Two horses come out of the Charles Town Oaks (G2), run over the two-turn seven furlongs at Charles Town on August 22. Indy Bay comes out of a 1 ½-length victory, while Not Too Late will have to rebound from a fifth-place finish.

One other runner comes out of a graded-stakes win. Clicquot won the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Oaks (G3) in stalk-and-pounce fashion on July 5, crossing the finish four lengths clear of Top, and has freshened since that race.

The other two runners come out of the Cathryn Sophia Stakes, the ungraded local prep at a mile and 70 yards. Dry Powder won by 4 ¼ lengths in stalk-and-pounce fashion over deep-closing Ourdaydreaminggirl, and they rematch in this spot.

Cotillion Stakes Contenders

These are the eight contenders in the 2025 Cotillion Stakes, sorted by their post positions.

1. Scottish Lassie: She missed the Kentucky Oaks season, but in three starts this year, she has rounded back into form, most recently with a 15-length romp over Immersive and Dry Powder in the Coaching Club American Oaks last out. It was a softer field than she faces this time, after the scratch of La Cara due to a barn quarantine. But, even though Scottish Lassie led at every call in that race, there is some chance she can find a stalking spot—after all, that’s exactly how she won the Frizette (G1) at the Spa last year. The price will be short, and therein lies the concern from a betting standpoint, but she does have a way to win.
2. La Cara: She notoriously has a good-race, bad-race pattern going this year … and coming off a flat fourth in the Alabama last out, the pattern suggests a good race for her this time around. There are a few others who like to sit on or very close to the lead in this race, so it won’t be easy, but La Cara does shape as the speed of the speed over a track that often plays very well to horses on the front end. And, among the three proven Grade 1 horses, she’ll be the most appealing price.
3. Clicquot: She is the up-and-comer here. She needs another step up, assuming the top few contenders show up with their best, but she is going the right way. After needing her debut back in March, she made quick work of her maiden and first-level allowance conditions, before making the grade in the Indiana Oaks. Her last two wins have come at 1 1/16 miles, the same distance as the Cotillion, and she has the tactical speed to work out a nice trip and not leave herself with too much to do late.
4. Indy Bay: A consistent filly, she has never been off the board in seven career starts and has won four of her last five, including the Charles Town Oaks. The distance is an interesting question for her—she handled a two-turn configuration well in her win at Charles Town, but that was a two-turn seven-furlong trip over a bullring. Now, she stretches out past seven furlongs for the first time. 1 1/16 miles still falls within a possible distance range given her pedigree, and she has tactical speed, but it won’t be an easy spot to find a career best over her longest trip yet.
5. Not Too Late: She won a sprint stakes three back at Monmouth, but has been well beaten in her pair of tries at the graded level. She has also never raced past a mile, and never won past seven furlongs. Her early speed is an asset over the local course, but in the end, she hasn’t run a race this year that’s anywhere near fast enough to be a contender, and there is no compelling reason to think she will now.
6. Ourdaydreaminggirl: The Parx course can be love-it-or-hate-it, and after six starts over the local track, she has proven that she does like it. She closed for second in the local prep, the Cathryn Sophia, and with the possibility of a lively pace, she may be able to make up some ground late. Unless she takes a huge step up in terms of speed, however, rounding out a superfecta looks like the ceiling.
7. Good Cheer: She started her career with seven straight races, starting with a maiden win at Horseshoe Indianapolis last summer and riding the wave all the way to the blanket of lilies in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. She came up flat in the Acorn a month later, though, and was a well-beaten fifth behind La Cara. However, she came back with a good second in the Alabama last month behind the red-hot Nitrogen, a good enough effort to suggest she came back well. The cut back in trip should be a positive—she is undefeated in five starts at 1 1/16 miles—and she can get a good tactical trip from a near-outside gate.
8. Dry Powder: This daughter of Gun Runner is a well-proven horse at the ungraded level, but was a well-beaten third—beaten over 20 lengths behind Scottish Lassie in a four-horse field—in her only graded try. Her prep for the Cotillion was a good one, a no-doubt-about-it score in the Cathryn Sophia, proving she could handle the dirt at Parx. And the outside draw should help her work another stalk-and-pounce trip. Even so, she needs another step forward to contend with the company she’ll face in the Cotillion. A piece underneath looks like the ceiling, especially for a barn that often underperforms in graded races.

Cotillion Stakes FAQ

Q: When and where is the Cotillion Stakes?

A: The race happens on Saturday, September 20, at Parx Racing in Bensalem, PA. Scheduled as the 13th of 15 on the card, the race is set to go at 5:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It is the co-featured race along with the Pennsylvania Derby.

Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Cotillion Stakes?

A: Steve Asmussen leads all trainers with five wins in the Cotillion between 2012 and 2022. He does not have an entrant in 2025. All of the trainers in the 2025 Cotillion seek their first win in the race.

Q: Who is the favorite for the Cotillion Stakes?

A: Scottish Lassie is the 9-5 morning-line favorite off of her 15-length victory in the Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga last out. That will probably be enough to hold her as the favorite in the betting markets, though Good Cheer could be close, coming second off a layoff for Brad Cox, a trainer who is always heavily bet.

Q: Who is the best Cotillion Stakes jockey?

A: Mike Smith leads all jockeys with four wins in the Cotillion. He has won the race with Jostle (2000), Close Hatches (2013), Songbird (2016), and Midnight Bisou (2018). Smith does not ride the race this year. All eight riders in the 2025 Cotillion are going for their first win in the race.

Q: Who won the Cotillion Stakes in 2024?

A: Thorpedo Anna, who went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Horse of the Year honors, won the Cotillion in 2025 for trainer Kenny McPeek and jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. Neither McPeek nor Hernandez returns to the race this year.

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