Delaware Park 2019 horses to watch: July 11
Delaware Park has an eight-race card lined up today, and the last two are for Arabians. Some horses to watch:
Race 1 – Claiming
- Three-year-olds and up who have never won four races or have not won once in six months will go 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track in a $16,000 claiming race.
- #1 Private Party (7-2) has a running style well-suited for short distances, but he’s been trying routes for the better part of a year. Last out, he finally got around one turn, going six furlongs. He led most of the way, before getting run down in the stretch and losing by just half a length. Now, he’ll cut back even further, in a race where there isn’t much other speed to challenge him. He should zoom to the front and hold off his challengers in a gate-to-wire victory.
- Selections: 1-6-5-2
Race 5 – Maiden special weight
- Fillies and mares three-years-old and up will go six furlongs on the main track in a maiden special weight contest.
- Among this field of seven maidens, three of them are first-time starters. Therefore, we’ll look for horses who are lightly raced and have shown good quality in their careers. I’ll aim for an ice-cold exacta with #6 Able to Smile (2-1) and #7 Our Flirtation (4-1). Able to Smile ran a big race first off the bench at Belmont Park, finishing third after showing some speed. She’ll now face easier company here. Our Flirtation switches to dirt from turf, and ran a respectable third on debut at five furlongs last out. She’ll also get Brian Pedroza, hitting at 24% on the meet, in the irons.
- Selections: 6-7-1-5
Arabian Watch
Thanks to Stephanie Ruff and Arabian Finish Line for giving us insights to the Arabian racing at Delaware Park.
Race 7 is an allowance/optional claiming race with a full, competitive field. Two entries, one from trainer Simon Hobson and one from trainer Jerenesto Torrez, have four horses that could take the top three spots. Trainer Lynn Ashby also has two in this race, but they are not coupled. Lazur Hess is looking for his first win of the year, and RR KY Bourbon, another quality pedigree from breeder Rosebrook Farm, broke his maiden last time out and is stepping up in class.
Race 8 is also an allowance/optional claiming race at six furlongs. Mizzdora is coming off of a surprising second place finish in the grade 1 President of the UAE Cup S. This is a much shorter race so it will be interesting to see how she does. Tiffanys Dream is a high quality mare that could easily get the win. The entry from Cre Run Farm and trainer Lynn Ashby contains Royally Bred, a good mare that rarely runs a bad race, but is still looking for her first win of 2019.