DELAWARE PARK PICKS AND HORSES TO WATCH: SEPT. 24

Elate
Elate was much the best in the 2019 Delaware Handicap. Photo by Allison Janezic.

Delaware Park has an 8-race card on tap for this Thursday. Post time for the opener is 1:15 p.m., and we’ve got Delaware Park picks.

How’d we do last time at Delaware Park?

RACE NUMBERHORSESCOMMENTS
Race 31, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11It’s two-year-old $25,000 maiden claiming fillies in here, and we’ll start with the only horse in the group not in for the tag: that’s the Lynn Ashby-trained #11 Blaze Finery (15-1). She’s had some excuses in her first two, and there are reasons to think she might step forward today. It’ll be her second start with Lasix, and she’ll try the grass for the first time; she’s the first foal out of a mare who won twice on the weeds, and sire Mizzen Mast was a Group 3 winner on turf in France… The only horse to have run a race in moderately fast time in this group is #1 Feyre (9-2). She’s disappointed as the favorite twice in a row, and there’s no real turf in the immediate family, but if she runs back to her better efforts, she contends in this group… #3 Verbien O. P. (20-1) has shown absolutely nothing at all in her two tries to date but is bred top and bottom for the green, so some improvement is expected… Another runner who figures to move forward on turf is #6 Joy in Jerusalem (12-1). The Susan Cooney trainee is a daughter of Temple City, whose best runners have been turfers… #8 Pray for Rain (12-1) gave an improved account of herself last time when third and may appreciate the added ground today. Two of her half-sibs have won on turf… #10 Social (5-1) rallied a little bit on debut to be fourth and switches to the grass here; her dam was a turf winner, and sire Social Inclusion’s runners are showing promise on the lawn thus far…
WAGERING…No great wagering insights today (or perhaps ever, but that’s a different question). This is a wide-open heat, and while we’d look to the 8, 10, and 11 as the most likely winners, probably none of the group would be a shock…

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