Delaware Park horses to watch: July 4, 2018
Off at Delaware Park. Photo © www.HoofprintsInc.com.
by Frank Vespe
Delaware Park has a nine-race holiday card for July 4, and the finale is for Arabians. Post time is 1:15 p.m. Here are some horses to watch:
Race 4 – Maiden special weight
- Two-year-old fillies will got 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track.
- #4 Varenka (4-1) is certainly bred to be a runner. The Ghostzapper filly has seven winning siblings, four of them stakes winners, including the G3 winner Dynamic Holiday. What’s more, her full sister, Lift Up, is among those stakes winners. The Graham Motion trainee, a homebred for George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable, has a number of solid works in preparation for her debut here and gets Jorge Vargas, Jr. in the irons; Vargas and Motion have a 44 percent strike rate in the last 60 days.
- #6 Marine Layer (3-2) was bet down to 1-2 in her debut a month ago and ran well, but not well enough to get the money, settling for second. The Tom Proctor trainee was a $130,000 auction purchase and shows a trio of good works since that June 6 effort. Feargal Lynch is up.
- Selections: 6-4-5
Race 8 – Allowance/optional claiming
- Three-year-olds and up will sprint 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track in a second-level allowance with an optional claiming tag of $25,000.
- #1 My Boy Lenny (2-1) ran a big one last out in his local bow for trainer Gerald Bennett, cruising to a nearly-four-length win in 1:09 and change for six furlongs, his second win in three starts. He shows a good five furlong work in the interim period and keeps regular pilot Daniel Centeno in the irons. This will be the three-year-old’s first try against his elders, which is one minor cause for concern, and the other is the presence of other speed types in here, notably the 8-5 morning line favorite #3 R Limo Joe and locally based #6 Flying Alex (8-1). If the speed runners cancel each other out, Bennett’s other entrant in here, #4 Halfback (4-1) is the most likely beneficiary.
- Selections: 4-1-5
ARABIAN WATCH
Arabian handicapping is provided by our friends at Arabian Finish Line.
The final race today is a claiming event for the Arabians going 6 furlongs. Probably favorite RB Hocus Pocus, who won his most recent start, is entered in this race as well as Thursday’s claiming event. We’ll see which one he runs in. (He is coupled in this race with Captain Bush.) Lil Dude AA, from Mark Powell’s barn, drops back into the claiming ranks (where he won) after a fifth place finish in allowance company. Two horses that have shown glimpses of their previously good form are Chndakasexpress and Daze Of Awe. Daze Of Awe will have to step it up against the boys, and Chndakasexpress gets leading Arabian rider Keibar Coa. It should be a competitive race.
Guess heat scared Motion and he scratched Varenka. I’m going back to Proper Manners, Galvan trained all 7 half sibs and 6/7 won or placed in debuts. Proper Manners shied away when being sandwiched in her 1st race, so maybe Lasik will juice her up a bit. Icy lady is working like she could be a good one, She worked a furlong in 11 seconds in May at Timonium sale and could be a runner.