Delaware Park 2019 horses to watch: October 3

Photo by HoofprintsInc.com.

Delaware Park has a nine-race card lined up for Thursday, October 3. Some horses to watch:

Race 1 — Allowance

• Fillies and mares three years-old and up will go 1 mile 70 yards on the main track in a first-level allowance.
• The ownership group behind #3 Gizmo (8-1) has to be getting a little bit antsy. The Uncle Mo filly was a $210,000 auction purchase as a weanling in 2016, reached the races late in 2018, her two-year-old season, and has thus far posted only one win from seven career starts. It’s about time for her to start making back some of that purchase price, and she shows up here, for the first time, in Tres Abbott’s Fair Hill barn. She’s also entered in a main-track race for the first time; her debut, at the Fair Grounds, was a race taken off the turf and put on the main track. She didn’t run badly that day, all things considered, and now, in her first start in three months, returns to the main track. Abbott has a 23% strike rate with starters switching into his barn, and if she takes to the dirt, this is a manageable group.
• Selections: 7-3-6-5

Race 6 — Allowance

• Fillies and mares three years-old and up will go 1 mile 70 yards on the main track in a first-level allowance. The first and this race are two divisions of the same contest.
• The more interesting of the two divisions, this race includes several horses worth a look. #2 Bettyann (8-1) won at first asking and has run a couple of credible local tries sprinting. She stretches out to two turns for the first time in her career in this race and will get blinkers on for the first time. That should help a runner with some early zip be a forward presence, but will she be able to stick with it to the end?
• In her first try, the Louis Albertrani-trained #3 Appealing Honor (8-1) won for fun at Laurel Park, cruising to a three-length win in a maiden special weight test. She’s been off since that April race. Among this ones siblings are the graded stakes winner Quantum Miss and graded stakes-placed Tonasah. The breeding suggests this distance shouldn’t be an issue, and though you’d rather she had a start in her, note that she did win going seven furlongs on debut.
• Selections: 3-5-2-7

Arabian Watch

Thanks to Stephanie Ruff and Arabian Finish Line for giving us insights to the Arabian racing at Delaware Park.

No Arabian race today.

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