Delaware Park 2019 horses to watch: June 6

by | Jun 6, 2019 | Breaking, DE Racing, Delaware, Racing

Off at Delaware Park. Photo © www.HoofprintsInc.com.

by Frank Vespe

Delaware Park has an eight-race card on tap for Thursday. Some horses to watch:

Race 2 – Maiden special weight

  • Fillies and mares three and up will go five furlongs on the turf.
  • Mid-Atlantic racing fans will likely remember Embarr. The solid racemare won five stakes, was Grade 3-placed, and earned more than $350,000 in her very good career for trainer Susan Cooney. Embarr’s first foal to make the races will make her debut in this spot. #5 Fionnbharr (12-1) is a daughter of Exchange Rate, and Cooney has the tripartite role of trainer-owner-breeder. This one was training towards a debut last fall before Cooney put her away for the winter. She returned to the worktab in March, and Cooney has gradually tightened the screws on her. She may need a race, and/or might prefer added ground, but we’ll see if we can score the upset here with a runner who’s bred for turf. Sheldon Russell is up.
  • Selections: 5-4-6-2

Race 4 – Allowance/optional claiming

  • Fillies and mares three and up will go a mile 70 yards on the turf in a second-level allowance with an optional claiming tag of $25,000.
  • What an interesting group of runners this race presents. #4 Pamina (4-1) comes from the Michael Dickinson operation; after winning a first allowance last June, she made her next four starts in stakes company, including a runner-up effort in the G3 Pucker Up at Arlington. She hasn’t raced since last November, but Dickinson has a gaudy 28% strike rate bringing horses back off long layoffs. Alex Cintron (11-for-39 at the meet) will ride.
  • A runner coming off an even longer layoff is #5 Ladhiyah (7-2) for trainer Christophe Clement. This Kitten’s Joy filly, a $294,000 auction purchase as a two-year-old, won two of her five starts in France in 2018, both wins, notably, on synthetic. She hasn’t raced since a sixth-place finish in on the turf in a handicap race there last September. Away since, she shows up here for her new trainer and with Lasix added. Trevor McCarthy will ride.
  • One horse with a demonstrated affinity for the Delaware turf is #8 Frippery (6-1). The Arnaud Delacour trainee has won two of three starts on the Delaware lawn, and her lone defeat came when second in the Christiana Stakes last June. She made her first start since August three weeks back at Monmouth, and while that didn’t go very well — she pressed the pace for a half-mile before fading from the scene — she certainly has the right to improve here. Daniel Centeno will ride; Centeno and Delacour hooked up to take yesterday’s feature, the Light Hearted.
  • Selections: 4-8-5-3

Arabian Watch

Thanks to Stephanie Ruff and Arabian Finish Line for giving us insights to the Arabian racing at Delaware Park.

No Arabian race today.