From a Delaware Park release
A rugged group of sophomores is set to contest Saturday’s $50,000 Oh Say Stakes at Delaware Park, with Fox Hill Farms Coup de Grace the 2-1 morning line favorite.
The six furlong event for 3-year-olds is named after the 1982 winner of the Hannibal Handicap at Delaware Park who was locally-owned by the famed Christiana Stables. Oh Say, whose dam Light Hearted won six straight races at Delaware Park in 1972, including the Delaware Oaks, had a career record of seven wins, a second and a third from nine starts.
J. Larry Jones has taken over the training duties for the Kentucky-bred. In his most recent effort, the 3-year-old son of Tapit finished sixth in seven furlong Grade II Woody Stephens at Belmont Park on June 7. Previously, he won the seven furlong Grade III Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct on April 5. He has career record of three wins from five starts with earnings of $258,100.
Yet the field is plenty salty for this level.
Among the main rivals figure to be Favorite Tale (3-1), whose gaudy record of four wins in six starts includes a length score in the Gold Fever at Belmont. The talented Pennsylvania-bred has run up the track in two graded tries at seven furlongs, but he’s won all four of his tries at shorter distances.
Maryland-bred It’s a Bang (5-1) is another who could make some noise. Making his first start since a third in November’s James F. Lewis at Laurel, the son of Great Notion has two wins from three starts.
Two others with stakes credentials are Debt Ceiling (8-1) and Germaniac (10-1). Debt Ceiling’s in-and-out form make him a handicapping puzzle, but there’s no denying the son of Discreet Cat’s talent. The Jerry Robb trainee won the Grade 3 Bashford Manor at Churchill Downs last June and throttled Delaware Certified rivals here in the First State Dash in September. Interspersed among those efforts are terrible outings in the Grade 2 Sanford, Grade 1 Champagne, and James F. Lewis.
Germaniac will also have some questions to answer; the Tim Tullock trainee looked like the real deal in running away with the Frank Whiteley at Laurel back in January, but the son of Henny Hughes hasn’t been better than fourth in four subsequent tries.
$50,000 Oh Say Stakes
For 3-year-olds
At Six Furlongs
| PP | HORSE | OWNER | TRAINER | JOCKEY | Wg | OD |
| 1 | Condo Closing | Iveta Kerber | McLean Robertson | Xavier Perez | 122 | 12-1 |
| 2 | Classic Giacnroll | Joseph Besecker | Lisa Guerrero | Kendrick Carmouche | 118 | 10-1 |
| 3 | Coup de Grace | Fox Hill Farms | J. Larry Jones | Kerwin Clark | 122 | 2-1 |
| 4 | Germaniac | Germania Farms | Tim Tullock Jr | Victor Carrasco | 122 | 10-1 |
| 5 | Debt Ceiling | Tim O’Donohue | John Robb | Joshua Navarro | 118 | 8-1 |
| 6 | Snuggley Bear | Carlson Family Limited | Thomas Clark | Brian Pedroza | 118 | 20-1 |
| 7 | It’s a Bang | Walter Vieser II | Donald Barr | Daniel Centeno | 118 | 5-1 |
| 8 | Rockinn on Bye | Stephen Ferguson | Stephen Casey | Trevor McCarthy | 120 | 8-1 |
| 9 | Favorite Tale | PJG Stable | Guadulupe Preciado | Jose Flores | 122 | 3-1 |
(Featured image, of It’s a Bang, by Jim McCue, Maryland Jockey Club.)
