Social Fortress looks for big step up in DelCap
Stakes winner never worse than third at DelPark
Frank Vespe
September 30, 2026
Social Fortress has been rebuilding her career in Gregg Sacco’s Delaware Park barn. Saturday, she’ll try to turn that progress into a win in the track’s signature race.
The four-year-old daughter of Social Inclusion enters the $500,000, Grade 3 Delaware Handicap off an allowance victory over the same surface, with a trainer who believes she has another step forward in her.
This article contains affiliate links. If you click and buy, we may earn a commission at no extra charge to you.
Pick up reliable and rewarding tickets for major events!
She will need to take that step Saturday. The 1 1/8-mile test for fillies and mares includes Grade 1 winner Eunomia, Grade 2 winner Margie’s Intention, last year’s champ in Regaled, dominant local stakes winner Chasten, and multiple stakes winner Nerazurri. But Social Fortress brings some back class of her own, along with a home-track record that gives Sacco reason to take a shot.
“She’s doing super,” Sacco said. “There’s some quality fillies in here with some good credentials.”
Morning linemaker Chris Sobocinski has installed Social Fortress at 15-1. Eunomia is the lukewarm 3-1 favorite.
Bred in Florida by co-owner Joseph Imbesi, who campaigns her with Charles B. Johnson, the daughter of 2014 Preakness show horse Social Inclusion has won three of eight starts and earned $238,350. Two of those victories came at Delaware, where she has never finished worse than third in four appearances.
Her promise was apparent early. Trained by Jamie Ness at two, she won her debut at Delaware by 11 lengths, then took Monmouth Park’s Sorority Stakes by seven. She finished third in the Grade 1 Frizette that fall.
But she made only two starts the following year, finishing unplaced in both. Sacco said nagging injuries before she joined his barn had interrupted her progress.
Switched into Sacco’s barn, this season has brought a steady climb: third in a Delaware sprint in May, second in another in July, then a 3 1/4-length victory going a mile and 70 yards August 21. In that latest start, she led throughout and drew clear under Cipriano Gil.
That win came against allowance company, and Sacco acknowledged that controlling the pace helped. Still, her preceding race demonstrated another option: she rated behind horses before closing to finish second to Delray.
“She’s got tactical speed,” Sacco said. “She doesn’t have to go to the lead.”
Gil has ridden her in all three starts this year and worked with her during the summer. Sacco describes Social Fortress as a high-energy filly whose rider has become increasingly familiar with her. He expects her to be forwardly placed Saturday, with Gil making the decisions as the field heads into the first turn.
Social Fortress worked a half-mile in a zippy 48 1/5 seconds, third fastest of 54 at the distance, on September 12. The preparation has also included a mile workout in 1:43 last Saturday, Sacco said, though that does not appear on the past performances. Just as useful may be the familiar surroundings.
Sacco calls Delaware a “tricky track,” and Delaware’s deeper surface required some adjustments during Sacco’s first full season there, he said. Social Fortress now trains over the track where she will tackle her toughest assignment of the year.
“It’s certainly an advantage for any trainer if they can run out of their own backyard,” Sacco said.
For her connections, the opportunity also carries a family history. Sacco’s father trained for Imbesi’s father in the early 1960s, and Sacco has trained on and off for Joseph Imbesi for 25 years. He describes Imbesi as a hands-on owner who attends workouts and knows his horses.
Saturday brings that longstanding relationship to a race Sacco has followed for years. Indeed, he said, it’s one he always makes a point to watch.
“It’s an honor to be in it,” he said.
Social Fortress has already shown she likes Delaware. Now she gets to show whether her improving form can carry her against the visitors.
Pick up reliable and rewarding tickets for major events!
LATEST NEWS
