Whitten Way stays unbeaten in Blue Hen
Tatters also moves to 2-for-2
Frank Vespe
August 8, 2026
Emanuel Rosario thrust a fist in the air as he and Whitten Way crossed the finish line in Saturday’s $75,000 Blue Hen Stakes for two-year-old fillies at Delaware Park.
Then he started shaking hands, pretty much every hand that he could find, in fact.
Whitten Way’s furious late rally not only gave her the victory, but it also provided the teenage apprentice rider the first stakes win of his career.
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“The horse ran a great race, and he rode a good race, and she was able to get there,” said winning trainer Gary Capuano. “So I’m happy for him.”
But it wasn’t nearly as easy as Whitten Way’s 3-10 off odds suggested it should have been.
A Maryland-bred daughter of multiple graded stakes winner Game Winner, Whitten Way dazzled in her debut, zipping the last of five furlongs in under 12 seconds to win by almost two lengths over stablemate Cha Cha Baby, who then graduated in her next start by nine lengths.
Today, though, on a muddy, sealed surface, she needed just about every inch of the stretch, surging late to win by a head over Olivia’s Legacy.
Whitten Way broke alertly but wasn’t quite as fast as others and soon found herself close up but between horses. She didn’t seem to like getting dirt in her face, though, and began to climb a bit and pull outward, losing position. She was in fourth, 4 ½ lengths behind second choice Tiz Tapping after an opening quarter-mile in 22.32 seconds.
Rosario steered his mount outside, and she made some progress, but on the turn, as he began to encourage her, she appeared to be going nowhere, still in fourth, trailing by two lengths after a half-mile in 46.52 seconds, and seemingly fading from the scene.
“Coming around the turn, [Rosario is] kind of getting after her, and she’s, like, backtracking,” Capuano said. “And I’m thinking, this isn’t gonna turn out good.”
A stubborn Tiz Tapping still held the lead at that point, fending off a hard-trying Alma’s Gone Gamblin. But Olivia’s Legacy and Whitten Way came outside of rivals in the lane, with Whitten Way widest of all, and they finished with a rush.
Those two finished almost in tandem, with Whitten Way getting the better of her rival in the final strides. They were 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Tiz Tapping, who held third. Running time over the muddy surface was 1:13.44 for six furlongs.
Whitten Way, bred by ZWP Stable and Non Stop Stable, is out of the stakes-winning Not for Love mare Steady N Love. She is owned by Eagle Up III, London Reid Thoroughbreds, and Non Stop Stable, and is a half-sister to the stakes winners It’s Hammertime and Shackled Love. She is now two-for-two with nearly $80,000 banked.
Capuano said he would like to try Whitten Way around two turns, which would make the $150,000, one-mile White Clay Creek Stakes at Delaware Sept. 26 a logical spot.
As for Whitten Way’s rider, Rosario is a seven-pound apprentice, but apprentice riders cannot claim the weight allowance in stakes races. That makes Capuano the rare trainer who will use a bug rider in such a race, and he had nothing but praise for the youngster.
“The kid works hard, really hard, and he’s there every morning before he started,” the trainer said. “You know, he never misses. He loves to work. He listens. He tries to learn. He’s getting better.”
NOTES Two races prior to the Blue Hen, the Michael Matz-trained Tatters was put up by disqualification after Snowhomish, who was first past the post, came over and impeded him in the lane. Tatters, a homebred for Dorothy Matz, is now 2-for-2, as well… The Blue Hen was contested in a driving rain storm that came up rather suddenly, led to a delay in the running of the fifth race, and just as quickly disappeared….
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