Delaware Handicap 2013 at Delaware Park
Las Vegas, NV - The Grade 1 Delaware Handicap - the showcase event at Delaware Park goes down this Saturday, July 20 from Stanton, Delaware. A nice purse of $750,000 will be on the line for fillies and mares three years old and upward willing to go 1 1/4 miles on Delaware Park's dirt track.
The Delaware Handicap has attracted a strong field of six females to go in race 9 on Delaware Park's Saturday card. Post time is 5:20 PM. Here is a look at the past performances of all sex entries for this important and lucrative stakes race that carries Grade 1 status for the first time since 1989.
2013 Delaware Handicap Race Favorites
Royal Delta - back-to-back Female Horse of the Year in the United States for trainer Bill Mott has looked exceptional of late except for a doomed trip to Dubai where she finished tenth in the World Cup. Before the trip she had three straight wins including the Grade 3 Sabin Stakes at Gulfstream, a repeat win in the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic and a win in the Grade 1 Beldame at Belmont Park September 29. Last time out she was a decent second in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap at Churchill Downs. She won this race last year over Tiz Miz Sue who has opted to skip the Del Cap and has three wins and a pair of seconds in six starts since. She is the highweight and the favorite for Saturday's race and she will have the extra motivation of rebounding from an ugly and uncharacteristic fifth last time out.
Authenticity - Todd Pletcher trained mare made her stakes debut and finished a good second in the Grade 3 Rampart Stakes behind Ciao Bella at Gulfstream March 30 after two wins, a second and a third place finish in five career starts - the only out-of-the-money finish came in her debut. Last time out was a very nice second in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Handicap behind Tiz Miz Sue at Belmont Park May 27 after a true breakthrough performance - a win in the Grade 2 La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs May 3. She has alternated wins and seconds in her last four starts - if the pattern holds true Authenticity is due for a win! Authenticity has finished in the top 3 in all but one of her career starts and is a threat each and every time out. She is cross entered in the Shuvee Handicap at Saratoga Saturday.
Delaware Handicap 2013 | Remaining Field Entries
Summer Applause - has recorded five wins, and two seconds in 11 career starts and enters the Delaware Handicap having won two of her last three starts - both graded stakes races. Last time out Summer Applause won the Grade 3 Distaff Handicap by two lengths at Pimlico May 18 after an OK fourth in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park. Before that was a win in the Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap in March at Aqueduct after she finished sixth in the inaugural Houston Ladies Classic Stakes at Sam Houston January 26. She has won two of her last three starts for trainer Chad Brown and has to be on the radar for the competitive Delaware Handicap. She is cross entered in the Shuvee Handicap - a race that takes place at Saratoga also on Saturday.
Delaware Handicap betting at Delaware Park with OffTrackBetting.com
Centring - has 10 career starts for trainer Thomas Albertini with two wins, four seconds and a third place finish. Her first stakes action came in November - a fifth in the Grade 3 La Prevoyante Handicap at Calder and her other stakes race came last time out - a respectable third in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps handicap at Belmont Park May 27. She raced to a second to Disposablepleasure March 17 in an Allowance Optional Claiming and a fourth in February in a similar race.
And Why Not - raced to a seventh in last year's Gulfstream Oaks and followed that with a ninth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks and an OK third in the minor Go for Wand Stakes in June but had focused on Allowance races until the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes. She was a second in an Allowance Optional Claiming at Gulfstream March 13 after a six month layoff and was eighth in the Bewitch April 25 at Keeneland. Last time out was her best result in quite some time - a second in the Grade 3 Obeah Stakes on this track June 15. She now has two seconds and a third on this track and will be looking for her first win - BUT it has to come over the very tough Royal Delta!
She's All In - had a good spring 2012 - a second in the Grade 3 Azeri Stakes and a win in the Grade 3 Sixty Sails Handicap but she hasn't been the same since. She does have a pair of Allowance scores and a couple seconds in minor stakes action and a win in the minor Oklahoma Classics Distaff in October. She had four off-the-board finishes in four graded stakes since the Sixty Sails score before a third last time out in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap June 15 at Churchill Downs. She's All In has 34 career starts with 14 wins, seven seconds and three third place finishes but enters the Delaware Handicap in below average form.
2013 Delaware Handicap Entries & Odds
Race 9 on Delaware Park's Saturday card with a Post Time of 5:20 PM.
