With two wins in her last three starts, Caramel Swirl has been tabbed as the 5-2 morning line favorite in a wide-open renewal of the G3 Charles Town Oaks.
Grade 2 winner Art Collector, now under the care of trainer Bill Mott, headlines Friday’s Grade 2 Charles Town Classic.
Defending champion Elate is favored to become the seventh two-time winner of the G2 Delaware Handicap when she faces eight rivals on Saturday.
Sir Winston, the other Mark Casse trainee in a race featuring Preakness winner War of Will, upset the Belmont Stakes Saturday.
War of Will is the 2-1 second choice on the morning line and will break from the nine-hole in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes.
Derby winner Country House won’t contest the Preakness – first time in 23 years that’s happened – and that’s only one part of the strangeness.
Trainer Bill Mott said he was leaning towards bringing Country House to Baltimore for the Preakness.
Maryland-bred Blamed, a winner in six of eight career starts, got her first graded win in today’s G3 Comely Stakes at Aqueduct.
An eight-month break proved to be no problem for the Bill Mott-trained Elate, who romped to victory in the G2 Delaware Handicap.
The Bill Mott-trained Elate kickstarted her 2017 season with a win at Delaware Park, and will look to reprise that in her first start in eight months in Saturday’s G2 Delaware Handicap.