Delaware Park horses to watch: July 23, 2018

by | Jul 23, 2018 | Breaking, DE Racing, Delaware, Racing

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

by Frank Vespe

Delaware Park will host an eight-race card on Monday, July 23, with the finale for Arabians. Post time for the card is 1:15 p.m., and here are some horses to watch:

Race 6 – Maiden Special Weight

  • Two-year-old fillies will go 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track.
  • #2 Malocchio (8-5) gets the nod as favorite in here, and why not? The Orb filly gave a good accounting of herself on debut, rallying strongly to earn the place, less than a length behind the winner, Creedibility. She’s showing a couple of solid works in the interim for trainer John Servis, who chooses to add Lasix here for the first time. Servis will leg up meet leader Carol Cedeno in the irons.
  • Trainer Larry Jones has frequently been among the top trainers at Delaware Park. He opted to stay closer to home this summer, but Monday he’s slated to send out his first Delaware Park runner of the meet in the form of #3 Street Band (8-1). Street Band, an Istan filly, is a homebred for Jones, his wife Cindy, and Ray Francis. She’s a half-sister to five winners and is showing a solid work tab, including a pair of recent bullets. Jones is 20 percent with debut runners and will leg up Alex Cintron.
  • Anthony Pecoraro has been tearing it up thus far at Delaware with 10 wins from 27 starts (he’s third in our alternative trainer standings), and on Monday he’ll send out an intriguing runner in the form of #8 Slide a Bit (10-1). The daughter of Fort Larned is out of the Thunder Gulch mare Cindy Woo Who, who has produced five winners, three of them stakes winners. This one’s work tab is not bad, and she is showing a three-furlong bullet back on June 18. Pecoraro will leg up Jeremy Rose.
  • Selections: 2-8-3-5

 

Race 7 – Allowance/optional claiming

  • Three-year-olds and up are scheduled to go a mile on the turf in a second-level allowance with an optional claiming price of $30,000 — assuming it stays on the turf.
  • My Princess Jess, by Stormy Atlantic, was a multiple graded stakes-winner on the turf, and in race seven, trainer Arnaud Delacour will send out her son, the Elusive Quality gelding #6 Surprise Twist (3-1). He spent most of his 2017 season stuck at the N1X level after breaking his maiden in start number two, but in his 2018 debut, he rallied from eighth to win that first-level allowance at Laurel Park. That was a better effort than it might have appeared, too; he was eight lengths back after three-quarters of a mile before rallying stoutly. And it’s not a case in which the leaders stopped; the last 5/16 mile went in less than 30 seconds. Delacour will leg up Daniel Centeno, and that duo is scoring at a 47-percent rate in the last 60 days.
  • Selections: 6-2-1-5

 

 

ARABIAN WATCH

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

Today’s maiden race for the Arabians features three first-time starters. Dance With Me BW, from Scott Powell and Quarter Moon Ranch, is a half-sister, by Darley Champion Grilla, to multiple stakes winner Love To Dance. Rosebrook Farm’s RB Frynch Texan is another one by Darley Champion TM Fred Texas and a 3/4 sister to 2017 Darley Champion 3-Year-Old Colt,
RB Hot Date. Last, but not least, Chndakas Eklipse SWA, owned by Jim Wetzel, is by the highly successful stallion Chndaka out of the multiple stakes-winner FMR Ozark Eklipse. Other than the first-time starters, Foxy Roxy has a second and a third in four starts. Her time to win one should be here. A Real Diva ran fifth in her debut so we would expect her to show improvement off that race. Finally, leading rider Carol Cedeno is aboard Crimson Mary, who had a third and fourth in her two starts. She will probably be the favorite, and it will be no surprise if she wins.