DEL: Barbadian Runner eyes million-dollar mark
Is morning line fave in Battery Park Stakes
The Biz
September 24, 2026
AJ Will Win Stables’ Barbadian Runner will seek to become a millionaire as he heads a field of six in Saturday’s $200,000 Battery Park at Delaware Park. The 1 1/8-mile race for horses 3 and older is carded as the sixth, with an approximate post time of 3:26 p.m.
Barbadian Runner finished fifth in the Grade 2, $1 million Charles Town Classic at the same distance Aug. 28. The 4-year-old Maryland-bred previously ran second in the $100,000 Yorktown at Colonial Downs July 25.
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Trained by Henry Walters, he has finished second in both of his Delaware Park starts, including the Delaware Derby, and owns nine wins from 25 starts with earnings of $980,250.
Regular pilot Forest Boyce will ride, and the duo will leave from the two-hole.
“He is coming into this as good as he could possibly be,” Walters said. “He has recovered nicely and he is ready to go. He tries every time, and I feel extremely fortunate to have him.”
Barbadian Runner is 3-2 on the morning line, and his task may get a bit easier: 7-2 third choice Hill Road ran in a Belmont allowance Sept. 24 and likely will not race Saturday.
The second choice on the morning line is Frank Fletcher Racing Operations’ Bendoog, who is 9-5. The Bill Mott trainee arrives off a win July 11 in the Michael G. Schaefer Memorial Stakes at Horseshoe Indianapolis, his seventh career win from 29 starts. The intact son of Gun Runner will have Samuel Marin in the irons as he seeks to add to his $1.1 million bankroll.
Barbadian Runner will look to bounce back from a fifth-place finish last out that snapped a streak of 12 consecutive races in which he had finished first or second. The Barbados gelding, a $5,000 auction purchase as a yearling, won last year’s Maryland Million Classic, upsetting overwhelming favorite Post Time.
The Battery Park also fits neatly into Barbadian Runner’s schedule ahead of his primary fall objective: a defense of that title.
“The ultimate goal for him is the Maryland Million,” Walters said. “So this race works out extremely well for him time-wise.”
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