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by Frank Vespe
Delaware Park has an nine-race card on tap for Saturday, August 25, with the finale for Arabians. Post time for the card is 1:15 p.m. Some horses to watch:
Race 4 – Allowance/optional claiming
- Three-year-olds and up will go a mile on the main track in a second-level allowance with an optional claiming tag of $30,000.
- Nine-year-old veteran #2 Warrioroftheroses (7-2) is inching up on a half-million in earnings, and just when you think there’s no more in the tank, he runs a good one. That happened two back when, dismissed at 9-1, he won off by six lengths while recording a BRIS speed figure of 94 — his best of 2017-18. He returns to Delaware, a track he’s loved (five-for 10), and reunites with rider Carol Cedeno, who piloted him in that score. The Damon Dilodovico trainee figures to be forwardly placed in the early going.
- Here’s a handicapping conundrum: #4 Wild Scat Blue (5-2) absolutely obliterated a first allowance field last out, winning by a dozen lengths while recording a BRIS figure of 99 — by far the highest of his career. Here’s the problem: he’s a four-year-old, he was making the 25th start of his career, and he had previously failed to win the N1X. Does that big effort seem repeatable? If you think it’s a yes, then those morning line odds are plenty generous. If not, then look elsewhere. Angel Suarez will ride for Gerald Bennett.
- Selections: 6-4-3-2
Race 5 – Maiden claiming
- Two-year-old fillies will go 5 1/2 furlongs on the main track at the $25,000 claiming level. Delaware-certified runners can waive the claiming price.
- If you think trainer stats matter, there’s a lot to like with #3 Rolling Bobby (3-1). The Anthony Pecoraro trainee was a middling fifth on debut versus maiden special weight foes. Here she makes her second career start — often a start where horses improve significantly — while getting Lasix for the first time and dropping into maiden claiming company. Trainer Anthony Pecoraro has a gaudy record with all of these angles, particularly adding Lasix for the first time, when he has a 40 percent strike rate. Notably, this horse has not impressed at all in the mornings — the Shanghai Bobby filly was 32-1 in her first start — and her two moves since her first race have been especially slow. Pecoraro will leg up Jose Garcia, who also rode her in that first race.
- Selections: 3-6-1-7
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ARABIAN WATCH
Arabian handicapping is provided by our friends at Arabian Finish Line.
A full field of 12 is slated for the maiden special weight race at 1 mile, 70 yards. There are two entries that pack a lot of punch – Scott Powell’s entry of Bigg Girl and Jazmun CS and the Gillis/Torrez entry of Crimson Mary AA and Big Ben AA. RB Super Duty, with Keibar Coa aboard, certainly deserves a mention. The sire So Big Is Better, who is doing very well this year, is the sire of two other starters, both for trainer Mark Powell – Big Buck MKP and Big Infection.
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