Delaware Park will host an unusual eight stakes races throughout the weekend, but track officials hope fans will stick around for more entertainment after the final horse wins.
Stanton Oval will host the Delaware Handicap Festival of Racing on Saturday and Sunday, combining the two most important days of the year into one weekend for the first time since 2009.
In past years, the Delaware Oaks, a Grade III race for 3-year-old fillies, has been held one week before the Delaware Handicap, a Grade II race for older fillies and broodmares.
This year, the races will be held on consecutive days, with the Oaks headlining 10 races on Saturday and a rare handicap race culminating in 10 races on Sunday.
Additionally, there will be live music performances in the Grove area outside the paddock after both races, including Damn the Whiskey on Saturday and Warren Montgomery on Sunday.
The drone show was scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Saturday but was postponed to Saturday, July 20, due to FAA no-fly regulations due to President Joe Biden’s return to Delaware on Friday evening.
The Delaware Handicap has eight horses scheduled to run the 1 3/16 miles, including former Grade I winner Wet Paint (morning line 3/2) trained by trainer Brad Cox, who rode Idiomatic in last year’s Delaware Handicap and began a campaign that was culminated in a Breeder’s Cup victory.
The closer struggled in his first two races of his 4-year-old season, finishing sixth in the Grade I Apple Blossom at Oakland and third in the Grade III Shawnee on June 1 at Churchill Downs in Kentucky.
Flavien Prat, a French jockey who is one of America’s top jockeys and a four-time Breeders’ Cup winner, will ride as part of a busy weekend.
Another strong contender is the Jose Ortiz-trained Honor Dee Lady (3/1), who will be looking to recapture the form that saw him win the Grade III Royal Delta at Gulfstream in February after struggling behind Wet Paint in the Apple Blossom.
The Delaware oval course hosts a ton of races, including some longshots.
Gary Capuano’s Malibu Beauty (10/1) drew the rail. The 6-year-old has won 12 of his 34 starts in Delaware.
She won an optional claim race in May and two restricted stakes races in 2022.
Capuano also trains Intrepid Dream (12/1), who has won six of his eight career races but has struggled to stay healthy.
Intrepid Dream won his first race at Delaware in September 2020 but didn’t return until July of the following year.
She then won two more races in Delaware before switching to the Maryland circuit.
This year, he won the unrated Heavenly Cause on April 13 but finished seventh in the Allaire du Pont Stakes in May.
The field also includes Morning Matcha (5/1), who has become a regular on Delaware Park’s biggest weekends.
The 5-year-old finished third in the 2022 Delaware Oaks before losing by a nose to a third-place finish in the 2023 Obeah, the top local race in the Delaware Handicap.
She returns to longer distance races, both seven furlongs, after winning the Pennsylvania Bred Stakes at Parx Race Course in April and finishing seventh in the Grade II Bed O’ Roses at Aqueduct Race Course.
Saddle Up Jessie (8/1) has won two of his first two races in Delaware and has two wins in 2023, in the Allowance and Optional Claiming races.
She won the Heavenly Prize Invitational in February at Aqueduct Race Course and finished runner-up to Honor D Lady in the Lady Secret at Monmouth Race Course last month.
Queen of Missoula (8/1) and Abundantia (15/1) complete the field.
Queen of Missoula will be making her second attempt at a stakes race after finishing fifth in the Grade III Double Dog Dare at Keeneland.
Abundantia began his racing career in Peru, winning four races, including a 1.5-mile race, before being shipped to the United States.
She finished 11th out of 12 in turf stakes and has a win and second place in a mile race at Gulfstream Park.
The start time for the Delaware Handicap is set for 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Delaware Oaks
The race, the Grade III equivalent of the Del Cap 3-year-old race, is the ninth and most anticipated race on Saturday’s race card, with a 4:30 start.
Power Squeeze is the 3/2 favorite to win and will be ridden by New York-based jockey Javier Castellano.
She is the only horse to win a graded stakes race over this distance, having won the Grade II Gulfstream Park Oaks and then placed sixth in the Kentucky Oaks.
Her final race was a third-place finish in the Grade I Acorn at Saratoga during the Belmont Stakes Festival.
Call Another Play (6/1) placed third in the Grade II Black-Eyed Susan over Preakness weekend and was joined by sixth-place finisher Ringy Dinghy (8/1).
Bill Mott’s Sidamala (3/1) is the second favorite and will be making his stakes debut after impressive wins at Keeneland and Churchill Downs.
Mystic Lake ran, but finished second in a stakes race at Belmont on July 4th.
Robert G. Dick Memorial
The 1 3/8-mile Grade III turf marathon that precedes Del Cap Sunday will be perhaps the best showdown between jockeys of the weekend.
Jose Ortiz, Julien Leparu, Javier Castellano, Bryan Hernandez, Junior Alvarado and Pratt will ride in the $250,000 race.
War Like Goddess (3/1, Alvarado), a four-time Grade I winner, takes the lead.
The 7-year-old is coming off a pair of Turf Classic wins at Aqueduct and a third-place finish in the Grade I New York-on-Belmont Stakes weekend at Saratoga Race Course.
Leparoux will travel south to ride Atomic Blonde, a 5-year-old German horse fresh from his victory in the 1.5-mile Keytana at Churchill Downs, a highly competitive race in the Richard G. Dick Memorial.
Castellano will ride Todd Pletcher’s Alphabella (8/1), who won the Grade III, 1.5-mile La Prevoyante Stakes at Gulfstream Park in January.
Trainer Graham Motion will compete in the 10th Robert G. Dick Memorial race with Vergara, ridden by Jorge Luis.
Kent Stakes
The turf marathon (1 3/8 miles) for 3-year-old horses is Saturday’s main undercard race.
Spirit Prince (6/1), the only stakes winner from the field of 12, was ridden by Jose Ortiz for jockey Christophe Clement.
He won at Aqueduct’s Central Park in November and just finished second in his season debut last month.
The morning line has Triple Espresso at low odds of 7/2, with Pletcher and Castellano teaming up to race the horse that finished sixth in the Grade II Pennine Ridge at Aqueduct Racecourse in May.
None of the horses in this race have run 11 furlongs as a young horse.
Other Stakes
Sunday’s stakes races begin with the sixth race, the $175,000 Battery Park Race, 1 1/16 miles on dirt, followed by the $125,000 six-furlong Dashing Beauty race for fillies and broodmares before the Robert G. Dick and Delaware Handicap.
The sixth race will also begin on Saturday with the 1 1/8-mile turf race, Christiana ($150,000), for 3-year-old fillies, followed by the 6-furlong Arapocas Run ($125,000) before the Kent Oaks and Delaware Oaks.
First posts on Saturday and Sunday are at 12:30pm