Delaware Park horses to watch: October 11

by | Oct 11, 2017 | Breaking, DE Racing, Delaware, Racing

Off at Delaware Park. Photo © www.HoofprintsInc.com.

by Frank Vespe

Delaware Park has a solid nine-race card lined up for Wednesday, with the finale for Arabians. Scheduled post time is 1:15 p.m. Some horses to watch:

  • The fourth is a maiden special weight event for two-year-olds going six furlongs on the main track and there are plenty of ways to go here. The morning line favorite is Create Again (2-1), who ran a credible third on debut for trainer Larry Jones and was sent off the favorite that day. Normal second-race improvement could make him tough in here, though one horse he’ll need to overcome is Just Flashy (4-1). This runner finished a length-and-change ahead of Create Again that race, which was this guy’s second, and he showed solid improvement then. He passed on the First State Dash for this spot and shows a bullet work in the interim, suggesting he should be ready to roll. Arnaud Delacour-trained firsters are always worth a look, and Talon (3-1) is no different, a Candy Ride colt out of a Pulpit mare with Daniel Centeno up; Delacour and Centeno are hitting at 33% the last two months. One runner who may fall through the cracks here, though, is Under the Graydar (8-1), a more modestly bred sort, a mere $7,000 auction purchase, trained by Greg Sacco. What makes him interesting though is that he’s been training well for this event and jockey Nik Juarez comes in to ride; Juarez has been hitting at 28 percent at Delaware in his occasional trips, and this is his only mount of the day.
  • The eight is a second-level allowance/optional claimer with a $38,000 purse for three-year-olds and up going six furlongs on the main track. It’s drawn a salty crew of hard hitters, with Larry Jones trainee Indian Lover (5-2) the morning line favorite and sporting a record of two wins and two seconds from five starts. But we’ll give a look at the Keith Nations trainee, Nick Can Fix (6-1). This Majestic Warrior gelding has won his last two starts, at seven furlongs at Laurel Park and one mile at Penn National; the bad news is they came in January and February, and he hasn’t raced since. There’s an obvious question as to whether he’ll need this race, but one thing’s pretty clear: he’s working like he’s ready. Since returning to the work tab, four of his seven recorded works have been bullets, and his last — four furlongs in 46 1/5 — is the fastest half-mile work recorded at Delaware this season and was more than two seconds faster than any other work at the distance on October 2. Daniel Centeno will ride.

ARABIAN WATCH

Arabian handicapping is provided by our friends at Arabian Finish Line.

The fillies and mares go at it again for 6 furlongs for the last race of the day. Miss Paradise, from owner/trainer Mark Powell, has been running well of late and Powell’s stable has been red hot the last couple of weeks. If you want to bet a jockey, Keiber Coa on Sand Token is a good pick. Sand Token broke her maiden last time out and takes on much tougher competition. This mare, however, has a pedigree very similar to the legendary Paddys Day, being by Burning Sand out of a Virgule Al Maury daughter. Pams Masquerade and Risky Red both are tough distaffers ready to get a piece of the purse.