Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Songbird expected to improve in Delaware Handicap
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer won the second-richest race of the Delaware Park meeting Saturday when It Tiz Well outfought Proud and Fearless and Actress by a half-length in the Grade 3, $300,000 Delaware Oaks.
It Tiz Well paid $3.60, which might not sound like much, but it is a much bigger price than Songbird will be Saturday when Hollendorfer tries to complete a sweep in the $750,000 Delaware Handicap.
Five fillies and mares were entered Monday to take on Songbird. They are Hone In, Line of Best Fit, Martini Glass, Miss Mo Kelly, and Weep No More. Songbird has been weighted at 124 for the Del Cap, and will concede from nine to 13 pounds.
Martini Glass is the second highweight at 115. Trainer Keith Nations claimed her for $16,000 out of a winning debut at Tampa Bay Downs in February 2016, and she is now seven for 14. Martini Glass has won three of her last four races, and most recently was second in the Obeah Stakes at Delaware on June 18.
The Delaware undercard includes three stakes topped by the Grade 3, $200,000 Kent, a 1 1/8-mile turf stakes for 3-yearolds. Frostmourne, winner of the Grade 2 Penn Mile, will be a solid favorite in the seven-horse field. Trainer Christophe Clement opted for the Kent over last weekend’s Belmont Derby Invitational. Frostmourne is 3 for 5 in his career.
Hollendorfer confirmed Sunday that two-time champion Songbird will ship to Delaware Park on Wednesday. Unlike last summer, when she was based at Saratoga for more than a month, Songbird is scheduled to return to California following the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap.
“She’s doing very well,” Hollendorfer said. “She’s ready to run.”
Songbird returned from a seven-month layoff to win the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps by a length on the June 10 Belmont Stakes card. Although the win improved the 4-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro’s record to 12 wins in 13 starts, she was not as dominant as she had been in the majority of her races.
Rick Porter, who owns Songbird, said he expects her to improve off the effort. Mike Smith, who has been aboard in all of her starts, will be in to ride.
“She got her normal great break and was going fine through her usual fractions,” Porter said. “She just didn’t have her normal punch when Mike threw the reins at her. She needed a race, needed to get challenged. She’ll move forward off that race for sure.”
In her lone loss, Songbird dropped a nose decision to Beholder in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last November. Beholder is owned by B. Wayne Hughes.
“I thought we’d won from where I was,” Porter said. “I started hugging my wife, and then I looked over and saw Wayne hugging his wife. I knew one of us had to be wrong.”
Porter has been ill with lymphoma since April 2016. He has been in Boston participating in a clinical trial since June 6. He said he could be released from the program Thursday and fly to his Delaware home that day. He hopes to be at Delaware Park on Saturday.
◗ Hollendorfer said he was pleased with It Tiz Well’s performance in the Delaware Oaks and that she came out of the race well.
“I’m very proud of her. It was a good race,” Hollendorfer said. “I think she can run with good fillies. It’s too early to say where she’ll run next. She could go to Saratoga, it just depends.”
Last summer, Hollendorfer and Porter won the two big 3-year-old filly races at Saratoga – the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks and Grade 1 Alabama – with Songbird.
◗ Hollendorfer said Sunday that Battle of Midway, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby and won the Grade 3 Affirmed at Santa Anita on June 24, is on target to run in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 30.
“I am pointing him for that race, so I would say he is probable,” Hollendorfer said.
Battle of Midway, who finished second, beaten a halflength, in the Santa Anita Derby in April, worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 at San Anita on Saturday.