Delaware Park 2018 horses to watch: August 23
Off at Delaware Park. Photo © www.HoofprintsInc.com.
by Frank Vespe
Delaware Park has an nine-race card on tap for Thursday, August 23, all for Thoroughbreds. Post time for the card is 1:15 p.m. Some horses to watch:
Race 8 – Allowance/optional claiming
- Fillies and mares three and up will go six furlongs on the main track in a first-level allowance with an optional claiming tag of $16,000.
- Trainer Jamie Ness has opened a clear lead in the trainer standings in the win category, adding another score yesterday, and he’ll send out the morning line favorite in this afternoon’s feature in the form of #4 Trusty Roll (9-5). The six-year-old Trust N Luck mare is in good form right now, having won two of her last four dirt starts (and finishing in the money in the others). She also loves this trip (four-for-nine) and has been first or second in two Delaware starts. Breaking outside the other major speed players also gives her an advantage, as she should be able to attain a good stalking position. Frankie Pennington is in for the mount.
- #5 Sleepless (8-1) hasn’t raced since last October when she was up the track in a Laurel Park turf allowance. The daughter of Quality Road, a homebred for George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable, is slated to make her return for a new trainer, with Clyde Martin replacing Michael Dickinson, and on a new surface; all three of her prior starts came on the lawn. She’s had something of a spotty record, debuting with a runner-up effort sprinting in August of her two-year-old year follwed by a win going a route of ground four months later. She was then off from December 2016 to last October, when she ran up the track over yielding ground before disappearing again. She’s showing four works, beginning July 21, in preparation for this, which will be her first race on the main track. Mario Pino will ride.
- Selections: 4-5-6-2
ARABIAN WATCH
Arabian handicapping is provided by our friends at Arabian Finish Line.
No Arabian race today.
