Delaware Park horses to watch: October 16

by | Oct 16, 2017 | Breaking, DE Racing, Delaware, Racing

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

by Frank Vespe

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

  • The second race is a $25,000 maiden claimer for three-year-olds and up going a mile 70 yards on the main track. The morning line favorite here is #4 Likeitlikethat (9-5), a Kim Boniface trainee who defeated similar last out but was disqualified for bumping and placed third. Obviously, if he can beat these types once — at 5-2 odds — he can do it a second time. And then there’s the Ron Moquett trainee, #5 Telling You Twice (6-1), a Florida-bred dropping into claiming company for the first time. But let’s give a look at #2 Lion Pride (5-2), a Keith Nations trainee who’s been toiling in some tough luck. Two back at this distance he led throughout before giving up the lead late to Cash Money Always, who has gone on to post a three-race win streak. Then, last out, against PA-bred maidens at Parx Racing, he was well beaten by Prince of Hempt, who turned around to win an allowance at long odds in his follow-up. This guy worked well enough to earn the clocker’s praise back in August, in between those two races, and shows a good work leading up to this one. Jomar Torres will ride.
  • The eighth is a $25,000 claimer for fillies and mares that have never won three going a flat mile on the main track. Typically, we’re not big on horses jumping classes; oftentimes, they get moved up beyond their capabilities. But in this race, the only contender who’s shown this sort of quality on the dirt is #5 Gia Alexa (7-2), who’s lost to similar or lesser three straight. She may well win, but it’s worth at least looking for someone to beat here. In a race that doesn’t project to be top quality, a horse like #3 African Wildcat (8-1) becomes more interesting. True, she didn’t beat much last out, but she did beat them by 18 (!) lengths and she did it “with something in reserve,” earning horse to watch status. Was that real, or just a flukish sort of thing? Guess we’ll find out here, and if we get something like 8-1, it’s worth a crack. Carol Cedeno will ride for trainer Jose Ramirez.

ARABIAN WATCH

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

This is an intriguing maiden race for Arabians going six furlongs. Since many of the horses running in the maiden ranks finally got their wins, it’s a somewhat different group of horses, including a couple first time starters. Uptown Flying Flynn, Colors In Motion and Smoke En Fire have all shown promise early in their careers and should be in the mix. Genova Joe is a first-time starter with leading Arabian jockey Keiber Coa in the saddle. He is linebred to Burning Sand – being by a Burning Sand son out of a Burning Sand daughter. The first time starter Big Infection is from Mark Powell’s barn. He is also by a Burning Sand son, but out of a Burning Sand granddaughter. It will be interesting to see how they do.