Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Dr. Blarney, Marengo Road meet in Governor’s Day
The two richest races Saturday at Delaware Park are not the two best races on a sixstakes card.
The $100,000 Tax Free Shopping Distaff and the $100,000 New Castle round out the stakes action, but those are races restricted to Delaware-bred or -registered starters.
The deeper races with more competitive fields are the $75,000 Governor’s Day and the $75,000 George Rosenberger.
The Governor’s Day has no sex restriction and is carded for one mile and 70 yards on dirt, while the Rosenberger is for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on turf. Both races are open to horses who have started at this Delaware Park meet in a nonstakes race.
The Governor’s Day (race 4, 2:37 p.m. Eastern) has a slew of possible winners, including 5-2 morning-line favorite Dr. Blarney, the king of the Massachusetts-breds.
Trained by Karl Grusmark, Dr. Blarney, a 4-year-old Dublin gelding, has put together a glittering career record of 11-0-1 from 15 starts with purse earnings of more than $338,000. Most of that money has been banked in Massachusetts-bred stakes at Suffolk Downs, races Dr. Blarney has utterly dominated.
In summer 2016, Dr. Blarney won three such starts by 46 lengths combined. This summer, he won two by nearly 18. Dr. Blarney became eligible for the Governor’s Day on Sept. 9, when he won a first-level Delaware allowance race by two lengths, but a repeat of that performance might not suffice to win again Saturday.
Marengo Road is listed at 9-2 on the track’s morning line but looks like a shorter price. Another 4-year-old, Marengo Road has won five of his 15 starts, including two open stakes, and unlike Dr. Blarney, he is stepping down in class. More of a grass horse than a dirt horse to date, Marengo Road didn’t mind the Penn National main track in an offthe-turf allowance race Aug. 30 that he won by 19 lengths.
Afleet Willy ran below his baseline form when a distant fourth in the Chaledon Stakes last out at Laurel and has yet to come back to his best races since returning this summer from a layoff. But a high-end Delaware allowance win in August was good enough to make him a contender Saturday.
Tale of Life finished third behind Afleet Willy in that Aug. 14 allowance, but that was his first start in almost 10 months, and he shows several races from last year that would be good enough to win the Governor’s Day.
Graham Motion trains Tale of Life and also sends out a key contender, Boreale, in the George Rosenberger (race 8, 4:24). Boreale, a French import, won her U.S. debut in a Delaware turf allowance June 14 and since then has run competitively in two stakes, first at Mountaineer and more recently at Kentucky Downs.
Boreale would offer betting value if she goes off close to her morning-line 9-2 odds for Motion, who has 10 winners from 37 starters at this meet.
Boreale beat another Rosenberger runner, Enchanteresse, by a nose in that June allowance race but has greater upside right now than that rival. Enchanteresse often races forwardly in her twoturn turf starts, good news for Boreale since Bishop’s Pond, the 7-2 morning-line favorite, is a confirmed front-runner. Bishop’s Pond won a Delaware dirt race last out and in her most recent local turf start finished eighth in the Grade 3 Robert Dick Memorial.
Final Prospect a price play
Final Prospect might have won the New Castle for older Delaware-bred or -registered sprinters last year had he not encountered significant trouble. He’s at 8-1 on the morning line for this year’s New Castle (race 11, 5:45) and looks worth a play at that price.
Final Prospect didn’t race between January and August and could just now be rounding into form while making his third start after the long break for trainer Gary Capuano. Final Prospect endured wide trips at Timonium and Laurel in his two post-layoff runs and could get a good setup closing into a strong pace Saturday.
Winplaceorshowono is at 4-1 on the line but looks like he could be favored. A winner in two of his four starts, he finished third last out in a second-level Delaware sprint allowance won sharply by Running Mate and already has run higher speed figures than most of his rivals.
Winplaceorshowono could get caught up in a quick pace with several rivals, including Dixie’s Last Laugh, who probably has to use his speed from the rail. Dixie’s Last Laugh enters the New Castle on a three-race winning streak.
◗ There is less substance to the New Castle’s sister race, the Tax Free Shopping Distaff (race 10, 5:18). Hailey’s Flip, another Capuano trainee, has the rail, speed, and a considerable enough edge over 11 rivals that she figures to go off well below her 2-1 morning-line odds.
◗ Prince Lucky looks like a standout in the $75,000 First Dash for Delaware-bred or -registered 2-year-olds. Trained by Larry Jones, the Corinthian colt debuted Aug. 28 with a 5 3/4-length maiden special weight victory, won in hand, and came back Monday with a fast workout. He’ll probably go to post an odds-on favorite.
◗ There is no such clarity in the $75,000 Small Wonder, which drew a contentious field of 12 2-year-old fillies.