Pennsylvania Derby Result: Handsome Mike Lights Up The Board At 19/1 (VIDEO)

Handsome Mike came three or four wide off the far turn and pulled away in the final furlongs to win the $1 million Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx at boxcar odds of 19/1. Macho Macho ran on well in the stretch but had too much work to do and had to settle for the place spot while Golden Ticket, the dead-head winner of the Travers Stakes in his last start, settled for third after it looked like he had a shot in the final quarter mile.

Alpha, the other dead-heat Travers winner, was sent to post at odds of 3/5 but faded badly at the top stretch and finished outside of the top two for only the third time in his career but with every one of those races coming outside of New York.

The Travers form looks awfully suspect following this race. Handsome Mike has had a decent season but he is in no way considered on of the top three-year-olds in the country. He finished fourth beaten 12 lengths in the Haskell and hadn't won a race since breaking his maiden way back in October of 2011 at Santa Anita... on the grass. The fact that Golden Ticket was able to dead-heat Alpha in the Travers gave us a clue that the race might have been a bit soft, but today's Penn Derby solidifies that fact.

Handsome Mike is a three-year-old colt by Scat Daddy out of a Smart Strike mare (Classic Strike), trained by Leandro Mora, owned by J. Paul Reddam, and ridden by Irad Ortiz (who was coming off a tough beat on Questing (GB) in the Cotillion right before the Penn Derby).

Below are the payouts, fractions internal splits and video replay for the Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby.

Result Chart via DRF.com