Which horses had the best Delaware Park meets? * The Racing Biz

Which horses had the best Delaware Park meets?

Frank Vespe
October 22, 2024

With the Delaware Park meet now in the rearview mirror, we wondered: which horses had the best meet?

The metric created to answer that question combines purse value, field size, the horse’s odds, and his or her finish position into one number. Sex and age don’t matter in this metric, so it’s not a speed figure or necessarily a useful handicapping tool. Instead, it aims to highlight consistent good performance, whatever level the horse runs at.

The metric only includes races in which a horse finished fifth or better, and we limited our consideration to horses that finished fifth or better at least three times during the meet, which narrowed the universe down to 365 horses.

So, without further ado, who had the best meet?

*Caprice won the Blue Hen Stakes at Delaware Park. Photo by The Racing Biz.*

Paper Mansion (249 points): The Chilean-bred trained by Jamie Ness won all four of his starts at the meet and has been first or second in 15 consecutive starts overall. He was the only horse to win at least four times without a defeat at the meet.
Freedom Road (240): The Ricky Sillaman trainee went 3-for-3 at the meet and was 2-5 or less in all three starts.
Caprice (239): The two-year-old filly trained by Cal Lynch won three times at the meet, including victories in the Blue Hen and Small Wonder Stakes, both for Del-certified runners, but was upset in the White Clay Creek.
Spikezone (235): Another Ness trainee, this 5-year-old finished third in his first start of the meet and then ran off four consecutive local wins. He had the highest earnings of any of the five horses with four wins at the meet.
It’s Hammertime (234): This Gary Capuano-trained two-year-old went 3-for-3 at the meet, including wins in the First State Dash and Rocky Run Stakes.
Payout Ratio (224): This four-year-old Kingman filly trained by Miguel Vera is 0-for-4 at tracks not named Delaware Park this season but went 3-for-3 during the Delaware meet.
Borracho (219): Eight-year-old Borracho, trained by (yet again) Jamie Ness, drank from the fountain of youth this meet, going 3-for-3 as part of an overall 5-for-6 heater. He has 15 wins and more than $630,000 in earnings in his career.
Uncle Truly (213): Owner-trainer Juan Arriagada had a strong meet, spearheaded by this three-year-old, who finished in the money in four of five Delaware starts, including two wins.
Devil Pays in Gold (208): Trained by Kieron Magee, this 4-year-old finished in the money in all five of his local starts and won twice.
Sabi (207): Trained by Michael Stidham, this sophomore had two wins and a second in four local tries.