Jamie Ness looking forward to Delaware Park meet

From a Delaware Park release

Horses from one of the top outfits in North America by wins started to arrive in preparation for the May 17 opening of live racing at the Delaware Park.  Jamie Ness, the two-time defending leading trainer, will have approximately 40 horses this year at the Stanton-oval.  Most of those are owned by Midwest Thoroughbreds, the defending four-time leading owner at Delaware Park and the current leading owner in North America by wins.

“We will be there,” said trainer Jamie Ness.  “We are looking forward to Delaware. I think we are going to have a pretty good season at Delaware Park.  I do not have the numbers like I have had in the past.  We are focusing more on the quality then the quantity, but regardless I am sure we are going to do our fair share of winning and we look forward to returning to the summer base.”

The 37-year-old South Dakota native has been pleased with his year thus far and he looks forward to carrying that success into Delaware.

“Everything was good this winter,” Ness said.  “We had a string in Maryland and they ran well.  We had our main string in Tampa, which is my winter home, and we have had a pretty good meet.  We also had some horses at Gulfstream and we had some pretty good results.  So I have got no complaints.  We had horses in three places and they all ran well.”

Others making preparations for the 2014 season at Delaware Park include Juan Vazquez, J. Larry Jones, Tim Ritchey, Scott Lake, Randy Nunley, McLean Robertson, Michael Matz, Michael Pino, Sam Cronk, H. Graham Motion, Arnaud Delacour, Ricky Griffith, Michael Gorham, Anthony Pecoraro, Thomas Albertrani, Louis Albertrani, John Rigaterri, Eldonna Gonzalez and Jonathan Sheppard.

The 77^th season of live racing at the Stanton oval will feature 81 days with the meet starting on May 17^th and concluding on October 22^nd.   In May, live racing will be held on the 17^th, 21^st, 24^th, 26^th, 28^th, and 31^st.  From June 2^nd  through September 6^th, live racing will be conducted on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.  Beginning on September 8^th, Monday will be dropped from the schedule and live racing will be conducted on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday through closing day October 22^nd.  Daily first race post time is set for 1:15 p.m.

Delaware Park’s premier races, the Delaware Oaks (Gr. II) and the Delaware Handicap (Gr. I), will be held on July 5^th and July 12^th respectively.

(Featured image of Jamie Ness courtesy of Delaware Park.)