Delaware Park 2019 horses to watch: September 19

Photo by HoofprintsInc.com.

Delaware Park has an eight-race card lined up for Thursday, September 19. Some horses to watch:

Race 6 — Allowance/optional claiming

Fillies and mares three years-old and up will go five furlongs on the turf in a second-level allowance with an optional claiming price of $25,000.
The Skip Einhorn-trained #2 Valuable Package (2-1) is a lightly raced sort gradually working through her conditions; the four-year-old Kantharos filly has won three of nine career starts. Her last try, in the Safely Kept Stakes at Monmouth, didn’t go so well, as she dueled for the lead before fading to eighth, but she was 20-1 that day. Her prior tries against allowance rivals, including one at this level, all are competitive. Wilmer Garcia, who rode her in the Safely Kept, makes a rare trip to Stanton, DE (just four starts here this meet) for the mount.
Among the runners Valuable Package will have to contend with are #4 Really Proud (8-5) and #5 Contrarity (8-1). The former is a Christophe Clement-trained daughter of Kitten Joy who is a half-sister to 2008 Eclipse champion three-year-old filly Proud Spell. The latter, trained by Hugh McMahon, just missed at this level last out and, curiously enough, is entered for the tag despite being eligible for the condition.
Selections: 2-6-4-5

Three-year-olds or four-year-olds and up that have never won three races will go a mile on the main track at the $25,000 claiming level.
Perhaps the two most interesting horses in this race enter from more or less opposite directions. #3 Trainfourtwentyone (8-1) has kept better company throughout his career, owns an allowance win, and has even tried stakes company. Two back, trainer Jamie Ness claimed him for $40,000 in a second-level allowance in which he gave a decent account of himself in his first start in almost four months. Last out, though, as the 4-5 favorite, he started slowly and didn’t show much after that. He’ll try to make amends here against an easier group than he’s used to and will have Trevor McCarthy up.
Arriving from the other direction is the improving #4 Homeofthe Lombardi (6-1). Claimed by Hugh McMahon last time out — from, as it happens, Jamie Ness — this one has raced just seven times with three wins and has been improving with each start. He’s now finished in the exacta in five straight and has posted three consecutive wins. How he’ll like the stretch out to a mile, though, is uncertain, and it’s worth noting that McCarthy, who’d ridden him three straight, lands on Trainfourtwentyone.
Selections: 4-3-6-2