Who knows what the future holds for the winners of Wednesday’s pair of Delaware certified stakes for two-year-olds at Delaware Park?

No one, of course, but for the moment, at least, early returns are promising. Caprice built on her stunning, 13-length debut victory with a professional score in the $50,000 Blue Hen for juvenile fillies. And two races later, Re Markably ran to his good looks with a sharp victory in the $50,000 Dover.

The two runners have raced a combined five times with four wins and a third, that belonging to Re Markably and coming in the Hickory Tree Stakes at Colonial Downs won by Candycrumbs.

Re Markably, a son of Hoppertunity bred in Maryland, won at first asking in a Delaware waiver maiden claimer. He followed that up with a strong showing, pressing the pace in the Hickory Tree and remaining willing to the end when finishing third. Then came today.

“They’re normally late developers,” trainer Lynn Ashby said of foals out of the Colonel John mare A Dicey Dame. “I think because of Hoppertunity, we have a little kind of earlier speed showing, and durability. Hoppertunity was a heck of a durable horse. So that cross worked out good.”

“This is the best horse we’ve had so far,” added Bill Gotwals. Gotwals and Ashby bred and own Re Markably.

The Dover scratched down to just four after trainer Gary Capuano scratched a pair, including morning line favorite It’s Hammertime, and Nolan Ramsey opted not to bring Happyflyer, the ninth-place finisher in the Hickory Tree.

That worked out fine for Re Markably, though. He broke alertly from the outer post, and jockey John Hiraldo quickly put the pressure on early leader Kerness K. Those two were heads apart and clear of the others through the early going, with Kerness K leading by a head after an opener in 22.41 seconds.

Kerness K maintained that lead around the turn, but approaching the quarter pole, Hiraldo gave his mount his cue, and Re Markably seized command. He led by two lengths with a furlong to go and stretched that advantage to 5 ½ at the finish. Running time for the 5 ½ furlongs on a fast main track was 1:05.17.

Off as the favorite, Re Markably paid $5.40 to win and topped an exacta, with All the Hardways, the longest shot on the board at 2.90-1, returned $8.30 for a one-dollar wager.

Now 2-for-3, Re Markably has nearly $60,000 in earnings.

Two races prior, Caprice improved her record to two-for-two with a 2 1/2-length win in a Blue Hen that developed similarly. Under Gabriel Maldonado, Caprice pressed the early pace of Great Andrei before taking over on the turn and going on to win in 1:06.08 for 5 ½ furlongs.

Caprice returned $3.80 to win as the favorite. The exacta, with Onyx Ten rallying into the place spot, paid $6.60 for a one-dollar wager.

The win increased Caprice’s bankroll to $60,000.

Caprice, a Golden Lad filly, is trained by Cal Lynch for Greg and Caroline Bentley’s Runnymoore Racing LLC, and the Bentleys also bred her. She is a Pennsylvania-bred Golden Lad filly, and as a filly who’s won twice on the dirt, has plenty of turf in her pedigree, is Delaware certified, Pennsylvania-bred, and Maryland Million eligible… well, she has options.

“We gotta give Mrs. Bentley credit for this, because she wanted a Maryland stallion for this mare, because we like the Maryland program,” said Runnymoore racing manager Joe Cassidy. “And, you know, it worked out really well for us to have a PA-bred, a Delaware certified, a Maryland sire. So, you know, it’s all good.”

The next Delaware certified stakes on the schedule are the First State Dash (boys) and Small Wonder (fillies), both at six furlongs on September 11. The track’s two-year-old stakes schedule concludes with a pair of open events at one mile October 9. Both the White Clay Creek, for fillies, and the Rocky Run offer purses of $125,000.

The Maryland Million, where both winners could also run, is October 12.

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