Delaware Park Racing Notebook, Vol. 11
Master Plan won the Stanton Stakes at Delaware Park. Photo by Kathleen O’Leary.
by Doug McCoy
Every week during the Delaware Park racing season, The Racing Biz will publish The Delaware Park Racing Notebook. This page is designed to give helpful information to both horseplayers and horsemen about the racing picture at Delaware Park from the past week.
In the notebook, you’ll find:
- “Horses to watch” section highlighting both horses who have shown promise those who may have had poor “trips” in their last starts.
- “Clocker’s Corner” where track clockers will point out horses who have worked in noteworthy fashion during the past week.
- Track tendencies or biases during the week’s races. While it would be great if every race track was completely fair and even and an equal number of speed horses, stalkers, and closers won each day, observant handicappers know this just isn’t the case. Every track’s tendencies and biases (favored styles) change and vary, often from one racing program to the next due to any number of factors, most notably weather. While these changes are often minor, there are also days where a certain type of horse (like a speed horse) has a decided advantage, and there also days where one portion of the racing strip is a better spot to race over (like the inside) than another.
- Leading trainers and jocks and who’s been hot during the last week.
HORSES TO WATCH
- INFUSED – This Lemon Drop Kid filly from the classy Lael Stable ran down the strong favorite to win at first asking over a solid field of maidens. Looks like a nice sort and also looks like she’ll appreciate more distance.
- MISS LOVELY – Half-sister to million-dollar earner A Bit O’Gold was also in field with Infused, broke from tough rail post and acts very much like a horse who wants to go longer.
- MONKEY’S MEDAL – Put in a strong middle move through a quarter mile of :24.3 before finishing strongly in a turf route. If he catches a field with enough early speed in it, he should be tough next out.
- GUILTYWITHANEXCUSE – Trappe Shot filly broke slow in her debut but overcame that to smoke her field by seven lengths while covering the five and a half furlongs in 1:04.73. Pecoraro 2-year-old will probably show up next in a small stake.
- BISTRO – Covered six furlongs in a very quick 1:10.75 dispatching a field of $8,000 claiming sprinters in second start for the overachieving Wilkinson barn and this filly certainly looks like she can handle a jump up in class for her next.
CLOCKER’S CORNER
Delaware Park clocker has this to say about several noteworthy morning moves
- BABIE MONSTER – Joe Arboritanza filly didn’t show much in her last start locally but showed signs of coming to life with a solid five furlong move of 1:01 on August 17. She’s entered in the third race August 23.
- THE CATMANCAN – Second in his last on the turf with a strong late run, this one continues to train well, working five furlongs in a quick :59 4/5 on August 17.
- AMIABILITY – Larry Jones juvenile looked good working 1:00 flat as she continues to prepare for her debut. She is entered August 24.
JOCKEYS AND TRAINERS
Carol Cedeno continues her march toward another riding title and led all jockeys last week with four wins from 22 mounts. The accomplished rider also demonstrated another reason why she’s so popular with trainers as three of her other mounts finished second and four more finished third.
The general public doesn’t often take into consideration that the purse money horses earn for running second and third is also critical to the financial health of a racing stable. Cedeno and Scott Spieth, who currently rank one-two in the standings, show 53 percent of their mounts finish 1-2-3. Others on the leaderboard with high in-the-money stats include Brian Pedroza at 59 percent and Fergal Lynch at 57 percent.
Ricardo Chiappe, Edwin Gonzalez and Diego Gomez each had wins three races last week.
On the trainer’s side of the board Jamie Ness, Scott Lake, Juan Arriagata and Jerenesto Torrez each won two races last week. So far during the meet, Lake’s horses have won 11 times, tied for fourth most at the meet, with an average win payoff of $11.80. In spite of the fact Lake led the country in wins four times, captured seven training titles at Delaware Park, and has won over 5,000 races, average bettors continue to take him lightly when making their selections.
Among the top 10 trainers at the meet, though, Jorge Diaz has been the bettors’ best friend. The trainer’s nine winners have returned an average payoff of $28.30. That’s good for a bettor’s return on investment $4.25 for each $2 wager. Anthony Pecoraro ($2.29) and Mike Gorham ($2.52) are the only other trainers among the top 10 with positive ROIs.
TRACK BIAS REPORT
Power of Snunner won the Obeah at Delaware Park. Photo by Kathleen O’Leary.
- 08/14 – Track surface was decidedly speed favoring coming back after dark Sunday. Horses on the lead or very close to the pace had the most success and front runners proved very tough to gain on through the stretch.
- 08/16 – The strip was slightly speed favoring for this card as again horses on the lead or close to the front were the most successful.
- 08/17 – The surface evened out for the Thursday card, playing reasonably fair with both speed and stalker/closer types enjoying some success. The middle of the strip also seemed to be the place to be during the card.
- 08/19 – Again the strip played reasonably fair and the preferred portion of the surface continued to move farther away from the inner rail.
