Delaware Park picks and horses to watch: August 19

Photo by HoofprintsInc.com.

We’ve got Delaware Park picks and horses to watch for Wednesday, August 19. The card features eight races.

Race 2 — Claiming

Three-year-olds and up that have never won two races will go about 1 mile on the turf (we hope!) at the $25,000 claiming level.
The most interesting runner here is probably #5 Daddy’s Cozy (5-2). The Scat Daddy gelding — a six-year-old with just nine starts under his belt — shows up here in a new barn, for trainer Carl Doran, and for the first time since May 2019. That day he was beaten just a nose by the hard-hitting Nakamura, who’s since been graded stakes-placed twice. In other words, if this one comes back similar to how he left, he’ll be a handful here, and he gets plenty of speed to run at, but the long layoff is an obvious concern… #1 Regal Speaker (9-5) lands in the right spot to make it two straight after coming home fast to graduate… #3 Noble Lion (6-1) got blinks on last time and kinda ran off, setting fast fractions before tiring; look for an improved effort if Pimentel can get him to settle…

Three-year-old fillies and fillies and mares four-years-old and up that have never won three races will go 6 furlongs on the main track at the $25,000 claiming level.
Two of these are sophomores that have won three races already and only qualify because they are three-year-olds. They are #2 Steady Love (5-2) and #4 Tell Me Im Pretty (9-5). The former, the first foal out of the stakes winner Steady N Love, comes out of a race that looks pretty bad — she lost by almost 16 lengths — but note that the winner won by 14 of those; this one was two out of second and has some decent efforts on the resume… The latter is jumping up in class and has always been handled like a horse with not much quality. But she’s won three of five and might be the main speed here… #1 Empress of Fortune (8-1) arrives off a hard-fought win in a race that’s produced two next-out winners from five to run back…

Three-year-olds and up that have never won two races will go 6 furlongs on the main track at the $25,000 claiming level.
The favorites in here are obvious horses, but one worth a look at a price is #3 Classy Solution (8-1). The Maria Cuprill trainee ran poorly last time out at PEN but may not have liked the sloppy going; it was her first time on it. Her prior try was a career-best when fourth in an allowance contest that went to Arkaan; he returned to run a good third in the Pegasus Stakes at MTH, while runner-up Cyril’s Boy won an allowance next time…

WAGERS