Delaware Park is hosting 8 stakes races in a rare complete weekend of action, but track officials hope fans will stick around for more entertainment after the final horse reaches the winner’s circle.
The Stanton oval is hosting the “Delaware Handicap Festival of Racing” on Saturday and Sunday, combining their two biggest days of the year into one weekend for the first time since 2009.
Over the past few years, the Delaware Oaks, a Grade III race for 3-year-old fillies, had been run the week before the Delaware Handicap, a Grade II race for older fillies and mares.
This year, they’ll be run on back-to-back days, as the Oaks will highlight a 10-race card on Saturday, with the Handicap apexing a rare 10-race Sunday card.
In addition, live music is scheduled for the grove area outside the paddock after both cards, with Damn the Whiskey on Saturday and Warren Montgomery on Sunday.
There had been a drone show scheduled for Saturday at 9:15, but had to be bumped to Saturday, July 20 due to FAA no-flight restrictions with President Joe Biden returning to Delaware Friday night.
Eight horses are scheduled to run 1 3/16 miles in the Delaware Handicap, including former Grade I winner Wet Paint (3/2 morning line), who is trained by Brad Cox, who saddled Idiomatic to last year’s DelCap, launching a campaign that culminated in a Breeder’s Cup victory.
The closer has struggled in her first two races of her 4-year-old season, finishing 6th in the Grade I Apple Blossom at Oakland, and then 3rd in the Grade III Shawnee at Kentucky’s Churchill Downs on June 1.
One of the top jockeys in America, 4-time Breeders Cup champion Flavien Prat, will get the mount, as part of a busy weekend for the French native.
Another contender figures to be Honor D Lady (3/1), who gets the services of Jose Ortiz, and is looking to revert to the form that had her win Gulfstream’s Grade III Royal Delta in February. She also struggled behind Wet Paint in the Apple Blossom.
There are a few longshots with plenty of races over the Delaware oval.
Gary Capuano’s Malibu Beauty (10/1) drew the rail, and the 6-year-old has made 12 of her 34 starts at Delaware.
She won an Optional Claiming race in May, and in 2022 won a pair of restricted stakes races.
Capuano also trains Intrepid Dream (12/1), who has won 6 of her 8 lifetime races, but has struggled to stay healthy.Â
Intrepid Dream broke her maiden at Delaware in September 2020, but then didn’t return until the following July.Â
She then won two more races at Delaware before turning to the Maryland circuit.
This year, she won the ungraded Heavenly Cause on April 13, but was 7th in the Allaire duPont Stakes in May.
The field also includes Morning Matcha (5/1), who has become a regular to Delaware Park’s biggest weekends.Â
The 5-year-old finished 3rd in the 2022 Delaware Oaks, before being beaten by a nose in the 2023 Obeah, the top local prep for the Delaware Handicap, where she finished 3rd.
She returns to longer races with this effort, after winning a Pennsylvania-bred stakes at Parx in April and finishing 7th in the Grade II Bed O Roses at Aqueduct, both at 7 furlongs.
Saddle Up Jessie (8/1) is 2-for-2 at Delaware, with a pair of 2023 wins in Allowance and Optional Claiming company.
She won February’s Heavenly Prize Invitational at Aqueduct in February, and finished behind Honor D Lady in the Lady Secret at Monmouth last month.
Queen of Missoula (8/1) and Abundancia (15/1) complete the field.
Queen of Missoula attempts stakes company for the second time, with a 5th place finish in the Grade III Doubledogdare at Keeneland on her resume.
Abundancia started her career in Peru, winning four races, including one at 1 1/2 miles, before being shipped to the U.S.
She finished 11th of 12 in a turf stakes, and has a win and second in mile-long races at Gulfstream Park.
Post time for the Delaware Handicap is set for 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Delaware Oaks
The Grade III, 3-year-old equivalent of the DelCap headlines Saturday’s card with a 4:30 post time for the featured 9th race.
Power Squeeze is the 3/2 favorite with New York-based Javier Castellano drawing the ride.
She’s the only horse in the field with a graded stakes victory at the distance, having won the Grade II Gulfstream Park Oaks before finishing 6th in the Kentucky Oaks.
Her last race with a 3rd place effort in the Grade I Acorn at Saratoga during the Belmont Stakes Festival.
Call Another Play (6/1) was 3rd in the Grade II Black Eyed Susan during Preakness weekend, and is joined by 6th place finisher Ringy Dingy (8/1).
Bill Mott’s Sidamara (3/1) is second-choice, making her stakes debut after a pair of impressive victories at Keeneland and Churchill Downs.
Mystic Lake was entered, but finished 2nd in a stakes at Belmont on July 4.
Robert G. Dick Memorial
The Grade III turf marathon at 1 3/8 miles precedes the DelCap Sunday, and has perhaps the best showdown of jockeys for the weekend.
Jose Ortiz, Julien Leparoux, Javier Castellano, Brian Hernandez, Junior Alvarado, and Prat all have mounts in the $250,000 race.
War Like Goddess (3/1, Alvarado), a 4-time Grade I winner headlines the field.Â
The 7-year-old has won 2-straight Turf Classics at Aqueduct, and is coming off a 3rd place effort in the Grade I New York on Belmont Stakes weekend at Saratoga.
Leparoux travels south to ride Atomic Blonde, a German-bred 5-year-old coming off a win in the 1 1/2-mile Keertana at Churchill Downs, a race that has been very productive for being competitive in the Richard G. Dick Memorial.
Castellano hops aboard Alpha Bella (8/1) for Todd Pletcher, who won the Grade III, 1 1/2-mile La Prevoyante Stakes at Gulfstream Park in January.
Trainer Graham Motion will go for his 10th Robert G. Dick Memorial with Vergara, with Jorge Ruiz aboard.Â
Kent Stakes
The 3-year-old turf marathon (1 3/8 miles) is the lead undercard race Saturday.
Spirit Prince (6/1) is the only stakes winner in the 12-horse field, with Jose Ortiz getting the mount for Christophe Clement.
He won Aqueduct’s Central Park in November, and is coming off a second-place finish in his seasonal debut last month.
The tepid 7/2 morning-line choice is Triple Espresso, with Pletcher and Castellano teaming up fr a horse that finished 6th in the Grade II Pennine Ridge at Aqueduct in May.
No horse in the field has run the 11-furlong distance in their young careers.
Other Stakes
Sunday’s stakes action begins in Race 6 with the $175,000 Battery Park at 1 1/16 miles on the dirt, with the $125,000 6-furlong Dashing Beauty for fillies and mares preceding the Robert G. Dick and Delaware Handicap.
Saturday also starts in Race 6 with the $150,000 Christiana for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/8 miles on the turf, that’s followed by the $125,000 6-furlong Alapocas Run ahead of the Kent and Delaware Oaks.
First post on both Saturday and Sunday is 12:30 p.m.