Capuano barn looks live in Delaware undercard stakes
Has runners in both undercard stakes on dirt
The Biz
June 13, 2026
Trainer Gary Capuano has been a dominant player on the Delaware Park scene in recent years, winning in bunches and especially with younger horses.
So it’s no surprise he’ll be well represented at the track’s biggest early season day, with starters in three of the day’s six stakes, including Big Cuddle in the $300,000 Delaware Derby.
Capuano’s other two runners will come with older horses on the main track: Atlantis Queen in the $150,000 Obeah Stakes and Haileysfirstnotion in the $100,000 Alapocas Run.
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Capuano will be seeking a repeat victory in the $150,000 Obeah Stakes when he sends Pocket 3’s Racing’s Atlantis Queen postward this Saturday. The mile and a sixteenth test for fillies and mares has attracted a field of eight. Last year, Capuano won the Obeah Stakes with Malibu Beauty.
The Obeah is the eighth on a loaded 12-race program.
In her last, Atlantis Queen ran third in one mile $100,000 Heavenly Cause Stakes at Laurel Park on April 4. Previously, the New York-bred won the mile and a sixteenth $100,000 Nellie Morse at Laurel on February 14. The 4-year-old daughter of Mitole has a career record of three wins, four seconds and a third from 17 starts with earnings of $168,755.
Atlantis Queen has a win over the strip, and in five career two-turn tries, she sports a record of 2-2-0.
“She is training good,” said trainer Gary Capuano. “She has been getting better the older she gets, and I think she is starting to figure things out. I think when we started running her consistently around two turns, that helped with her development.”
Godolphin’s Amalfi Drive figures to be in the early pace mix. In her most recent, the 4-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro was a gate to wire winner in a mile allowance at Churchill Downs on May 1. Previously, the Kentucky-bred trained by Michael Stidam finished fourth in a turf sprint at Keeneland on April 4. She has a career record of three wins, a second and a third from seven starts including her maiden win at Delaware Park with earnings of $167,006.
“She really ran a nice race in her last at Churchill Downs and since then she has been doing really well,” said trainer Michael Stidham. “This will be her first outing against stakes competition, but we think she is ready for the challenge. She is bred to be this kind of filly, and she broke her maiden at Delaware Park, so this is as good as any spot to see if she can take the next step.”
Atlantis Queen is 8-1 on the morning line, and Amalfi Drive is 5-1. The 3-2 morning line favorite is the Bob Baffert-trained Cash Call, a winner in last summer’s Grade 3 Summertime Oaks at Santa Anita Park returning to two turns for the first time in nearly a year. Jose Ortiz will ride.
Two races prior, in the six-furlong Alapocas Run, Capuano will send out Haileysfirstnotion (8-1) with Yedsit Hazlewood in the irons.
Daniel Crowley and Non Stop Racing Stables Haileysfirstnotion could be peaking at the right time. The 5-year-old son of Great Notion has a lifetime mark of six wins, three seconds and three thirds from 13 starts with earnings of $278,860. In his last, the Maryland-bred trained Gary Capuano finished third in in the six-furlong Grade 3 Maryland Sprint on May 16. In his only other outing this year, he posted a 7 ¾-length score in a six-furlong allowance at Laurel on May 1.
“He is ready to go” said trainer Gary Capuano. “He has run a pair of really bang-up races this year, so he is sharp and getting better. He seems like he came out of his last race in good shape, and he had a good breeze last week. He is a solid sprinter and he comes to run almost every time, so we are excited for this Saturday.”
It has been nearly a year since Jay Em Ess Stable’s Full Moon Madness (6-1) has won, but the 6-year-old son of Into Mischief will be returning to the track and stake of his last victory when he faces eight rivals in the six furlong $100,000 Alapocas Run Stakes at Delaware Park this Saturday.
In his most recent, the 6-year-old son of Into Mischief ran third in the six-furlong Grade 3 John A. Nerud at Belmont at Aqueduct on May 9. Previously, the Kentucky-bred trained by Michelle Nevin finished second in the six-furlong Grade III Tom Fool at Aqueduct on February 28. He has a career record of five wins, four seconds and five thirds from 21 starts with earnings of $551,550.
After finishing out of the money for the first time in his career in the one mile Grade 3 Westchester Stakes at Belmont at Aqueduct on May 3, Paul Berube, Karen Linnell and Heather Hunter’s Quint’s Brew will look to rebound. The 5-year-old Maryland-bred son of Mosler has a career record of seven wins, four seconds and a third from 13 starts with earnings of $571,740.
“I think his last race, in New York, may have been a little farther than he wanted to go, but prior to that, he has been flawless,” said trainer Edward “Ned” Allard. “He has been training super, so we are excited about the race on Saturday. He has never raced at Delaware, but he has been training here, so we are looking forward to bringing him to the races right from his own stall.”
The morning line favorite in the Alapocas Run is the Gregg Sacco-trained Just Beat the Odds. The six-year-old Munnings gelding returns to the US after running a game second in the $2 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint in Saudi Arabia, beaten less than a length by last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up, Imagination.
Just Beat the Odds closed his 2025 campaign with an easy win in the Grade 3 Elite Power at Aqueduct for his first stakes win. Irad Ortiz is named.
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