Eagle Up Stables, London Reid Thoroughbreds, and Non Stop Stable’s It’s Hammertime tops a field of seven entered in the Delaware bred or certified restricted $50,000 Dover Stakes at Delaware Park this Wednesday. The five-and-a-half-furlong stake for 2-year-olds is a prep for the Delaware bred or certified restricted $100,000 First State Dash on September 11.

In his only career outing, the son of Vekoma posted an 8-length victory in a five-furlong maiden at Delaware Park on June 5. The Maryland-bred is trained by Gary Capuano who is currently second in the Delaware Park trainer standings with a record of 16 wins from 44 starters.

But he may not post.

“I am not sure about him because he has missed a couple days of training because of the weather so I am not sure we will be able to get him ready by [race day],” Capuano said. “He is a professional.  He is not a huge horse, but he is stout and he is put together pretty good.  He has the mindset of a nice one and he showed talent from the start, so we will see down the road how far that goes.” 

Capuano has also entered Rose Petal Stable’s Bangkok Bob and John Hazard’s Sacred Thunder.  Both recently ran first and second in a six-furlong maiden at Delaware Park on August 7. 

“Both of them ran great with Bangkok Bob just barely beating Sacred Thunder,” he said. “It is a little quick, but as long they come out of the races good and they are sharp, sometimes you have to take the opportunities. They both came out of the last race great and they did not get tired, so this is a good spot for them. I think both of them will probably want to go a little farther, but we will see.”

So far through the Delaware Park meet, Capuano has been on fire with his 2-year-olds sporting a record of seven winners from 14 starters.

“We have been fortunate that they have all been running really good,” he said. “We happened to get them earlier this year than we typically do and we got them ready. They are all kind of falling into place right now, so we are riding the wave, and, in this game, you need to ride it when you can because it is not typical.”

Capuano has won the Dover Stakes twice. He won the race last year under the current restrictions for Delaware bred or certified 2-year-olds with Copper Tax, and he won it in 1996 when it was run as an open stake for 2-year-olds with Captain Bodgit, who the following year ran second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

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