Delaware Park Racing Notebook 2018: Vol. 2
Frippery broke her maiden at Delaware Park. Photo by The Racing Biz.
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
- MY BOY LENNY – Promising 3-year-old looked very sharp winning his second in three starts June 7 and finished strong when racing without blinkers for the first time to post a blistering final time of 1:09.21. Watch for this one in a stake soon, perhaps at Presque Isle.
- HAY DILLY – First-time start broke slow then rushed to contention early before pulling away through the lane in impressive fashion June 6. This one has grass breeding on both sides, so watch for this Candy Ride filly on the lawn soon.
- WHERESHETOLDMETOGO – Ran the fastest six furlongs of the meet to date (1:08.62) en route to a 10 1/2-length romp over allowance/optional claiming sprinters June 9 and this 3-year-old is another who you can look for in a stake soon.
- DIALIN – Off slow, this one ran a sneaky good race in a turf sprint in her first career try on turf June 6. This one could win at a nice price when stretched out on the lawn next out.
- VERSED – Was forced to take up in traffic moving into the turn of sprint last out but came on again through the lane and galloped out strong June 7. Don’t overlook him when he runs back.
- ROYALTY FOR LIFE – If the teletimer is to be believed, this 3-year-old filly ripped through a final quarter in :23.49 seconds en route to her second straight win, a remarkable feat over this strip June 9. It’ll be interesting to see if this is a diamond in the rough.
CLOCKERS’ CORNER
- SHANE’S JEWEL – Three-year-old who ran strange race at Parx in his last and was subsequently transferred to Jamie Ness’s barn worked a solid six furlongs in 1:13.80 from the gate on 06/09 working in company with Ness’s WORTH HIS SALT. That one exits a tough allowance optional claiming sprint run in 1:10.56 at Laurel last start and might be a value play off this move.
- DIVINE QUALITY – Unraced three-year-old worked a sharp half in :47.40 from the gate on 06/12, and this Brereton Jones-bred daughter of Divine Park may come out running in her debut.
JOCKEYS AND TRAINERS
Carol Cedeno, defending champion at Delaware Park, who got off to a slow start the first week of the meet, kicked into gear last week, winning five races to tie for the colony lead during the period from June 6 through June 11. And she is obviously riding contenders as 13 of her 19 mounts finished one,two,three.
Keiber Coa had another good week, also winning five races from 13 mounts, and he holds the overall lead in the standings with eights wins, one more than Cedeno. Though, given his high win percentage during the week, you’d expect Coa to have been on plenty of favorites, the average win payoff on Coa’s mounts was a healthy $14.20.
Two back with six wins is Angel Suarez. Suarez guided home three winners and is getting a lot of business, while Alex Cintron continues to ride in top form since returning from a long layoff, winning on two of the his six mounts.
Statistics at the right reflect Thoroughbred mounts only, while those in this writeup include Arabians.
RANK BY WINS | JOCKEY | WINS | WIN PCT. | EARNINGS/START | $2 WAGERING ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cedeno Carol | 6 | 15.38% | $2,530 | $1.20 |
| 2 | Coa Keiber J | 6 | 25.00% | $3,369 | $4.80 |
| 3 | Suarez Angel | 5 | 13.51% | $2,064 | $0.62 |
| 4 | Centeno Daniel | 4 | 26.67% | $5,324 | $1.30 |
| 5 | Marin Augusto A | 4 | 26.67% | $3,954 | $4.24 |
| 6 | Rodriguez Pablo | 3 | 14.29% | $2,517 | $0.88 |
| 7 | Cintron Alex | 2 | 13.33% | $3,979 | $0.94 |
| 8 | Uske Shannon | 2 | 14.29% | $2,910 | $3.06 |
RANK BY WINS | JOCKEY | WINS | WIN PCT. | EARNINGS/START | $2 WAGERING ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cedeno Carol | 6 | 15.38% | $2,530 | $1.20 |
| 2 | Coa Keiber J | 6 | 25.00% | $3,369 | $4.80 |
| 3 | Suarez Angel | 5 | 13.51% | $2,064 | $0.62 |
| 4 | Centeno Daniel | 4 | 26.67% | $5,324 | $1.30 |
| 5 | Marin Augusto A | 4 | 26.67% | $3,954 | $4.24 |
| 6 | Rodriguez Pablo | 3 | 14.29% | $2,517 | $0.88 |
| 7 | Cintron Alex | 2 | 13.33% | $3,979 | $0.94 |
| 8 | Uske Shannon | 2 | 14.29% | $2,910 | $3.06 |
On the trainer’s side Scott Lake topped all conditioners with three wins from 15 starters. Lynn Ashby, whose stable is split between thoroughbreds and Arabians, won with two of her six starters and five of her six starters finished one,two,three. Gerald Bennett sent out two winners from 10 runners and six of those hit the board. Arabian trainer Jerenesto Torrez, Elizabeth Brand, and Gary Capuano also had two wins. Brand and Capuano each went two-for-two, with Brand’s average win payout a solid $21.40.
Ashby (three Thoroughbred wins) and Graham Motion top the overall standings with four overall wins each while seven trainers — Scott Lake, Wayne Potts, Mike Gorham, Jamie Ness, Anthony Pecoraro, James Tsirigotis Jr. and Victor Carrasco, Jr. — are all one back. If you’re looking for value both Gorham and Tsirigotis Jr.’s winners had average win payoffs of over $19.00.
TRACK BIAS REPORT
Power of Snunner won the 2017 Obeah at Delaware Park. Photo by Kathleen O’Leary.
- 06/06 – The racing strip, which displayed a strong speed and front-end bias in the first week of action, seems to have settled a bit as the second week of racing began. The strip was still speed-favoring but the bias wasn’t as pronounced, and some of the stronger closers were able to make up ground in the stretch.
- 06/07 – The strip continued to become more fair and balanced as both speed types and late runners were successful on the program.
- 06/09 – Saturday’s surface was a bit tighter, with speed and close-up types enjoying the most success.
- 06/12 – Overnight rain left the track with standing water in spots and listed as sloppy for the first five races; the track was sealed all day. The surface was upgraded to wet fast for the last three races on the card, and speed horses and close-up types dominated through much of the card.
