“There were a couple of things that came together that led to the changes, but I think between Gary (Contessa) being the general manager and Richard (Sillaman) being the on-site trainer at Delaware Park, we really have the right mix,” said Nick Beaver, who owns Bell Gable Stable with his wife Delora Beaver. “Gary and I spoke, and he wanted to start spending more time in New York with his family, but everything worked out good and we have good reliable people in key positions which have us pretty excited about this upcoming season.”

Another factor in the realignment is the Beavers are planning to relocate to Florida, though they plan to leave the stable in the Mid-Atlantic.

“Our plan is to have all of our horses in Delaware this summer so Delora and I can watch as many races as possible because this will be the last year we will be in the Mid-Atlantic,” said Beaver. “We will be moving to Citrus Hills, Florida in about a year. We are still planning on keeping our horses in the Mid-Atlantic and Delaware, but Delora and I will be in Florida.”

Team Bell Gable Stable is looking forward to defending the Delaware Park leading owner title. Last year, the stable finished in a tie with Runnymoore Racing with 14 victories each and in 2021, they won the title outright with 16 wins.

“We are coming with a really fresh barn,” Beaver said. “We should have about 16 to 18 horses ready to run right off the bat when the meet starts. We are also going to have seven 2-year-olds who we are pretty excited about. Barring any unforeseen setbacks, I expect all of them will be ready to run early in the meet. They are all Delaware Certified, so that will give us plenty of options with them at Delaware. Even most of our older horses got the winter off or have been in light training.”

One horse Beaver is hoping has a special season is Somekindofmagician. Bell Gable Stable claimed the 9-year-old gelded son of Street Magician for $25,000 in August of 2019. The Maryland-bred won both the Find Stakes and Maryland Million Turf on the Laurel Park turf in 2021. He has compiled a Delaware Park record of two wins, a second and two thirds from six career efforts, and overall he has seven wins and earnings just over $360,000.

“He is our pride and joy,” said Beaver. “He really did not start coming into his own until 2021 when Gary took over the barn. There was something between the horse and Gary. Gary got him really happy and it really made a difference. The last two years the attitude with him has been really something and if you walk down shed row with carrots in your hands, he will let you know it. Last year, he had some problems and we only got to run him three times, but I think we got him where he needs to be. He has been in South Carolina and it has done a world of good. He looks like a million bucks. This will probably be his final season racing, so we are really hoping he can finish strong and retire from the track as a winner.”

Other familiar outfits planning on returning for the 2023 live racing season include trainers: Edward Allard, Lynn Ashby, Brett Brinkman, Gary Capuano, Victor Carrasco Jr., Jane Cibelli, Greg Compton, Sam Cronk, Kelly Lynn Dieter, Michael Gorham, Richard Hendriks, Steve Klesaris, Scott Lake, James Lawrence, Cathal Lynch, Antonio Machado, H. Graham Motion, Chelsey Moysey, Pedro Nazrio, Jamie Ness, Anthony Pecoraro, Pedro Posadas, John Rigattieri, Tim Ritchey, John Robb, McLean Robertson, Kelly Rubley, Brittany Russell, Niall Saville, Carlos Sepulveda, Andrew Simoff, Michael Stidham and Kirsten Swan.

New barns for this season include: Keri Brion, Blake Kelly, Monica McGoey, Diane Morici, Kerri Raven, Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon, Robert G. Smith, Elliot Sullivan and James Toner.

The 86^th live racing season will feature 85-days of racing beginning on Wednesday, May 24 and concluding on Saturday, October 28. Live racing will be conducted on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday with the exception of Friday on the following days – May 26; July 28, August 4, 11, 18, 25; and October 27.