Pennsylvania Day at the Races: Best Bets for the Pennsylvania Derby Day, 9/20/2025

Key takeaways:

• No Bien Ni Mal has Group 1 form from South America, a strong U.S. debut win, and the stamina to thrive at 1 ½ miles in the Greenwood Cup.
• Double Your Money is a Parx specialist (8-for-8 in the exacta locally) and has the grit to hang around even if class is the question.
• All Class brings proven form at the trip, tactical speed, and picks up Carmouche, who knows how to ride the Parx rail.
• Carmelina is 3-for-3 at Parx this year, versatile enough to sit the right trip, and gets hot connections Reid and Lopez.
• Neoequos cuts back to his best distance, has graded-level sprinting form, and draws a perfect outside stalking trip in the Gallant Bob.

Saturday, September 20, is the day of the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby (G1) and the $1 million Cotillion Stakes (G1), the only top-level events of the year at Parx Racing. The Pennsylvania Derby dates back to when the track was called Keystone Race Track, through its days at Philadelphia Park. The Cotillion dates back even further, back to 1969 when the great Shuvee won the first edition at the old Liberty Bell Park.

The Pennsylvania Derby and the Cotillion are not the only great betting races Saturday at Parx Racing. There is a 15-race card with seven stakes in all, including four graded events. In addition to the million-dollar features, there are also the Gallant Bob (G2) for sophomore dirt sprinters and the Greenwood Cup (G3), one of the year’s best races for 1 ½-mile dirt horses. Other stakes on the card include the Parx Dirt Mile, the Parx Sprint, and the Liberty Bell Stakes for filly and mare dirt sprinters.

The 15-race all-dirt card has large, competitive fields all day long and gets underway at 11:05 a.m. EDT. Stakes action gets underway with the ninth race at 3:01 p.m. EDT, the Greenwood Cup, and it's all stakes action for the rest of the day. You can watch every race and get up-to-the-minute news and information about the horses at FanDuel Racing, and watch every race at FanDuel TV.

Remember to check the scratches before placing your bets. The weather is supposed to be clear and sunny, but scratches can happen for any reason, and horse racing is a game of information. Staying in touch with race-day changes makes sure you’re betting the same race you thought you were, or allows you to adjust accordingly, making you a smarter and better bettor.

These are the three best bets for Pennsylvania Derby Day at Parx Racing on Saturday:

Best Bets for Pennsylvania Derby Day at Parx Racing

Race 9 - Greenwood Cup (G1), 1 ½ miles on the dirt - No Bien Ni Mal, Double Your Money

FanDuel odds: 2-1 and 5-1

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With the absence of Next, the longtime divisional leader who has not raced since a tilt at the Breeders’ Cup Classic last November, the long-distance dirt division has been wide open this year. Next has won this race by double-digit lengths the last two years, but now the door is open for someone else. There are also serious questions about one of the horses likely to take a lot of money. Digital Ops does have speed on the fence, but with Double Your Money and Repo Rocks also in the field, it’s hard to trust him to see the trip all the way through, especially after he set the pace and just got reeled in down the lane in each of his last two.

No Bien Ni Mal is the class of the field. Though he has only raced once in the United States, a first-level allowance, he was as clever a condition book fit as ever for that sort of race. After all, he won four times in Brazil, but the purses weren’t enough to put him over the money limit to disqualify him from the allowance condition in New York. Despite a rough break, he stalked the pace and battled to the finish, getting up by a head to score in the 1 ⅛-mile race. Now he stretches out to 1 ½ miles, a distance at which he was beaten just three lengths in a Group 1 in Uruguay two back. And, he crossed the wire first in a 1 ¼-mile Group 3 in Brazil three back, though he was disqualified after. He has the seasoning and the stamina, and he should be able to get the tactical trip he needs to be a serious threat.

Sometimes, in races like this, class can play a little weird. Most of the horses are trying a new distance, and sometimes visitors don’t take well to the local course, so a local can take a surprising step up. Double Your Money looks like the live local. After all, he just keeps showing up at Parx Racing: in eight starts over the track, he has never been worse than second. And, though usually he races on the front, he can battle, or he can still run a good race from just off the pace. Class is the question, of course: he typically runs in starter allowances, and he’ll be facing at least a few stakes types here. But, this isn’t a monumentally deep Grade 3, and he is a son of the distance-bred Demarchelier who has proven his mettle over the dirt at Parx. From a near-inside gate, this could be enough for Double Your Money to do even better than his name implies for those who put money on his nose.

Race 10 - Liberty Bell Stakes, 6 ½ furlongs on the dirt, fillies and mares - All Class, Carmelina

FanDuel odds: 5-1 and 5-2

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The rail plays well at Parx Racing, and so a well-spotted horse on the rail appeals. We have such a runner with All Class, who ships in for Linda Rice. The question is how she will handle Parx, as this will be her first try in Bensalem. However, though the latest phase of her career has been in New York, she has won at Gulfstream and Keeneland as well, meaning she is a mare who can take her show on the road. She also has strong form at 6 ½ furlongs, with two wins and a second in four starts, including a blowout allowance win in stalk-and-pounce fashion at Saratoga two back. Kendrick Carmouche was in the irons for that race, and he should be able to work out another good tactical trip in this.

Favoritism will probably be a close question between Mystic Lake and Carmelina. Even though Mystic Lake’s only try at Parx is a toss—it was in the two-turn Cotillion last year—the fact remains that she has to go to the lead, and will have a tough time with Alani inside and Confirmed Star outside. Carmelina can show speed but has a better-honed tactical gear, something she showed to full effect last out when winning an allowance over this course and distance last month. Her connections win a lot at Parx—trainer Robert Reid, Jr is a 21% winner on the meet, and Paco Lopez is firing at 24% on the meet. Carmelina has been a part of that—she has won three times over the local course already this year, including twice at this specialist six-furlong trip. With the ability to work a trip and connections who are less nationally known than those of Mystic Lake (trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr. and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione), Carmelina is the better bet.

Race 12 - Gallant Bob (G2), six furlongs on the dirt - Retribution, Neoequos

FanDuel odds: 5-1 and 5-2

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With Bob Baffert trainee Barnes in the field and taking a class drop, the prices should be good for anyone here to oppose him—and there are quality options for doing just that.

Retribution, for trainer Cherie DeVaux, steps up to the graded-stakes ranks for the first time. He won over the mud at Parx on August 18, showing some local form—and did so from an outside gate despite stumbling at the start. Now, Retribution draws the rail, which tends to be very good at Parx. With plenty of speed entered in this race, Retribution should be able to track a few lengths behind and not give himself too much to do late. The turn back to six furlongs from 6 ½ last out can move him forward, the jockey change to Kendrick Carmouche (who has more big-race experience than last-out rider Mychel Sanchez) is a positive, and there’s plenty of reason he can be competitive at a square price.

Barnes will be favored on the Baffert factor, but the horse who should be favored in this spot is Saffie Joseph, Jr. trainee Neoequos, a truer six-furlong horse. He tried the Kentucky Derby after nabbing some placings in a couple of preps in Florida, but his real game is sprinting. He won an ungraded stakes at Monmouth two back in convincing fashion, and though he was defeated last out in the Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town, that was a two-turn seven furlongs. Now he cuts back to six furlongs and should be able to work a good, clean outside tracking trip under Irad Ortiz.

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