Include Morning-Line Favorite for Pennsylvania Derby

Despite the presence of graded stakes winners Hal's Hope, Mass Market, and Pine Bluff, Robert Meyerhoff's Vincent Moscarelli Stakes winner Include was installed as the 3-1 morning-line favorite for Monday's $300,000 Pennsylvania Derby (gr. III) at Philadelphia Park. With an expected post time of 5:05 p.m. (EDT), the 1 1/8-mile event is the feature of a 12-race holiday card.

A Maryland-bred, Include is undefeated in four starts on the year after being held winless as a juvenile. His average margin of victory is over 7 1/2 lengths, including a 9 1/2-length romp in the Vincent Moscarelli. A son of Broad Brush--Illeria, by Stop the Music, Turn-to appears three times in his four generation pedigree. Broad Brush, also owned by Meyerhoff, won the 1986 Pennsylvania Derby, then a grade II, by 1 1/4 lengths on a sloppy track. Mark Johnston will guide Include from post position three.

Hal's Hope finished second to Mass Market in the West Virginia Derby in his most recent start and the two are due to meet again on Monday. "He still was not all the way back in that last start at Mountaineer, maybe 80 percent," said trainer Harold Rose. "We hope he's all the way back for Monday." Regular rider Roger Velez will be in the irons.

Breaking from post 11 is another son of Broad Brush, William J. Condren's Bare Outline. The Nick Zito trainee finished fifth in his most recent start, a seven-furlong allowance race at Saratoga. Bare Outline ran through two allowance conditions at Gulfstream Park this winter before being sent on the Triple Crown trail, finishing ninth in the Florida Derby (gr. I) -- won by Hal's Hope -- and fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I). After two more off-the-board finishes in the Withers (gr. III) and Peter Pan (gr. II), Bare Outline won a 1 1/16-mile allowance race in July at Belmont Park by six lengths.

The Pennsylvania Derby can be viewed live over the internet at www.PaDerby.com, a new web-site launched by Philadelphia Park.

The field for the Pennsylvania Derby -- with jockeys, weights, and morning-line odds -- will consist of:
1--Mass Market, Rick Wilson, 122, 6-1
2--Thistyranthasclass, Jose Velez Jr., 122, 4-1
3--Include, Mark Johnston, 118, 3-1
4--Perfect Cat, Heberto Castillo Jr., 114, 10-1
5--Carney's Prospect, Clinton Potts, 114, 20-1
6--Cherokeeinthehills, Oscar Mancilla, 114, 20-1
7--Hal's Hope, Roger Velez, 122, 6-1
8--Pickupspeed, J.Z. Santana, 119, 20-1
9--Trajectory, Ramon Dominguez, 119, 5-1
10--Pine Dance, Michael McCarthy, 122, 10-1
11--Bare Outline, Filiberto Leon, 117, 10-1