Delaware Park picks and horses to watch: Sept. 21 * The Racing Biz

DELAWARE PARK PICKS AND HORSES TO WATCH: SEPT. 21

*Elate was much the best in the 2019 Delaware Handicap. Photo by Allison Janezic.*

Delaware Park has an 9-race card on tap for this Monday, with the finale for Arabians. Post time for the opener is 1:15 p.m., and we’ve got Delaware Park picks.

How’d we do last time at Delaware Park?

RACE NUMBER	HORSES	COMMENTS
Race 5	2, 3, 6	First-level allowance here, and the chalk, #6 Pretti Xtreme (2-1) will have to overcome a bad name but otherwise seems to be in a good spot. Two-back she was the distant runner-up behind the suddenly-good Landing Zone, who won by 11 and then came right back to win an a-other-than that included two of the runners in here. Pretti Xtreme, meanwhile, came back to win a lifetime claiming even fairly easily against a field that was well spread out behind her. She may be controlling speed in here, and from the outer portion of the gate, she can either look for the lead or work out a stalking trip… #2 Pat’s No Fool (10-1) and #3 Bobby’s Goldengirl (6-1) were third and fourth, respectively, in an allowance behind Landing Zone. Neither ran great, but neither ran all that badly; the latter does have the benefit of being younger and more lightly raced, thus perhaps possessed of more upside…
Race 6	1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7	This is a low-level maiden claimer for 2yo — which is to say, you could easily press the all button or use other horses we don’t fancy. Who knows what you’re going to get in this contest? The morning line favorite here is #4 End All Get All (5-2), who was a pretty good second last out on the drop-down for trainer Anthony Pecoraro. He also picks up leading rider Carol Cedeno here… Wouldn’t be surprised to see #3 Bi Bi Carpe (7-2) go favored by post time; this one was a decent second last out — with blinks added — behind a 3-5 class dropper at MTH. This group might be a touch eaiser, and this may be your most likely winner… The quick turnaround is a question mark, but we feel like #2 Jaime Jamel (15-1) has a chance to outrun those odds. This one got bumped leaving the gate on debut, rushed up inside, and then tired while racing on the wrong lead in the lane. A smoother trip moves him forward… Trainer Andry Blanco has sent out three debut 2yo at the meet, and all three have finished in the money, including one winner. Can the trainer keep the streak going with #7 The King Aquiles (10-1)…
Race 7	1, 5, 7, 11	Last time out #1 Ribbon Winner (5-2) may have hung a bit after making a big middle move, but it was still a good effort on a day when the turf course was kind to front-end speed and in a race which has produced three next-out winners from five to run back… First time on turf here for #5 Fast Fionnuala (6-1), who makes her second start off a four-month break. She’s a half to turf stakes winner Big Screen… The first two-turn try for #7 Uplifted (7-2) wasn’t great – she stalked the pace and tired – but you wonder if that wasn’t the trip they were looking for on the stretch-out. This group looks to be lighter than that one was, and you wonder if they’ll either try for the lead here or take back and look to make a run, which was the successful formula on graduation… The figs say #11 Little Lion Girl (15-1) may not be fast enough here, but her only turf try (from just three starts) was better than it looks. She rallied to win nicely that day, and of the three to run back on turf, two won their next race. And the runner-up, Hello Beautiful, is a stakes winner on dirt. Give this one a shot in here at a price…
WAGERING…		We’d probably say focus on value in win bets and vertical wagers here. The multi-race wagers may get pricey.