[boxify cols_use =”3″ cols =”5″ position =”right” order =”none” box_spacing =”5″ padding =”3″ background_color =”gray” background_opacity =”10″ border_width =”1″ border_color =”blue” border_style =”dotted” height =”305″ ]UPCOMING STAKES

  • Fancy Buckles S. (CT) — Saturday, 3yo and up fillies and mares, 4 1/2 furlongs
  • G3 Obeah S. (DEL) — Saturday, 3yo and up and fillies and mares, 1 1/8 miles
  • Little Silver S. (MTH) — Saturday, 3yo fillies, 1 mile (turf)
  • Danzig S. (PEN) — Saturday, 3yo PA-breds, 6 furlongs
  • New Start S. (PEN) — Saturday, 3yo PA-bred fillies, 6 furlongs
  • Dan Horn H. (MTH) — Sunday, 3yo and up NJ-breds, 1 mile (turf)
  • G3 Pegasus S. (MTH) — Sunday, 3yo, 1 1/16 miles [/boxify]

Although Pimlico is now closed and there is no racing in Maryland until the state fair meet at Timonium, there’s plenty of activity on tap elsewhere in the region.  Among the highlights:

  • The local prep for the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap is Saturday at Delaware Park — the Grade 3 Obeah — and G3 Rampart winner Gamay Noir is the strong half of a coupled entry that is favored, at 2-1.  She’s a deep closer and will be looking to get some help up front; speedy Winter Melody winner Montana Native, trained by newly minted Belmont winner Christophe Clement, will look to reprise her gate-to-wire effort in that event.
  • Meanwhile, at Monmouth Park, two runners last seen in Triple Crown events will try to get back on track in the Grade 3 Pegasus for sophomores.  Uncle Sigh, most recently 14th in the Kentucky Derby, is the 2-1 morning line chalk in the race, while Preakness fifth-place finisher Ring Weekend is 3-1.  Albano, a runner who was on the Triple Crown trail earlier in the season but fell off after a fifth place finish in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, is 5-2.
  • Both Charles Town and Penn National host state-bred stakes this weekend.  Charles Town’s Fancy Buckles features two of that track’s harder hitting females in 9-5 Jax and Jill (record of 16-9-3-0 with earnings of $260,620) and 7-5 Down Town Allen (37-21-5-4 with earnings of $842,067), who’s won this event two straight years and owns a 10-race winning streak over the strip.  In Penn National’s Danzig, the most accomplished runner is 5-2 Elevated, who won the Christopher Elser Memorial at Parx and was recently a distant second in the Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town behind the talented Rise Up.  In the New Start, Raging Smoke — who notably ran second over the strip to the very fast Gracer in a state-bred stake last year and was most recently fifth in the Miss Preakness — will look to get back to her winning ways.
  • No runners in the top five among older horses or three year-olds in the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred/The Racing Biz Top Midlantic-bred Poll are in action this weekend.