Delaware Park picks and horses to watch: August 20

Photo by HoofprintsInc.com.

We’ve got Delaware Park picks and horses to watch for Thursday, August 20. The card features eight races, and they are off the turf.

Race 3 — Allowance/optional claiming

Three-year-olds and up will go one mile on the main track in a third-level allowance with an optional claiming tag of $50,000.
Really unfortunate that three scratches have kind of taken a hatchet to this contest, but the horses that remain in are legit; all four are stakes winners. #1 Honor the Fleet (6-1) makes his third start off a four-month break and ran a pretty good one last out; though he was no match for the winner, he was a clear second. The slight distance cutback from his last won’t hurt, and his best efforts put him in the mix… Looking forward to seeing seven-year-old Mass-bred #4 Dr Blarney (2-1) in action again. He’s made particular hay against other horses bred in the Bay State, but he’s a hard hitter wherever he goes and owns five wins in seven starts at Delaware Park, including a win in last year’s Hanford Memorial over the strip. He figures the main speed here with regular rider Tammi Piermarini in the irons… #7 Monongahela (4-1) makes his first start in the Brittany Russell barn and third off a four-month break here; the six-year-old has earned over half a million bucks, is a Grade 3 winner, and might sit the right trip off three foes who look to have a bit more early lick…

Maidens three and up will go a mile on the main track in a race that was taken off the turf.
It’ll be the second start off a seven-month layoff for #6 Bonkers (4-1). The Arnaud Delacour trainee made a middle move before tiring last time and gets more ground today; Delacour also peels off the blinks. This one is the first foal out of a Grade 2 winner on turf and has every right to improve here… Watch the toteboard and don’t be surprised if #13 Waterside (6-1) goes favored in here. The daughter of top sire Medaglia d’Oro is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Little Belle and another stakes winner, and she’s been firing morning bullets in preparation. Going two turns first time out can be tricky, but trainer Stidham has shown he can get ’em ready to do that.