Eighteen Nominated for Sunday's Delaware Handicap

by Patricia Woo | Jul 13 2009

Although she is not expected to make the trip to Delaware Park on Sunday, Mother Goose and Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra was assigned top weight of 123 pounds for the $1 million Delaware Handicap (G2).

Even without Rachel Alexandra, the 72nd running of the Del 'Cap will have a deep field of fillies and mares chasing a $600,000 first place check and a ticket to the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic.

The Del 'Cap is a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race, with the winner guaranteed a starting spot in the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 6.

The co-highweights likely to make it to the starting gate on Sunday are Acoma and Unbridled Belle at 119 pounds, and both should garner plenty of attention at the betting windows.

Acoma is a four-year-old filly trained by David Carroll, will be shipping in from Churchill Downs, and will be returning to dirt.

The filly won the Mint Julep (G3) over the turf course in her last start at Churchill Downs, and has a perfect record in three starts on grass.

She is no slouch on dirt, among her wins the Azeri (G3) at Oaklawn Park and the Dogwood Stakes (G3) last year at Churchill Downs.

The filly has won seven of her 11 career starts and likely will be ridden by Julien Leparoux.

Unbridled Belle tuned up for the Del 'Cap by trouncing the field in the Obeah Stakes (G3) over the main track at Delaware Park.

The mare set a strong early pace and drew off smartly in the stretch to win by eleven lengths.

Owned by Team Valor and trained by Todd Pletcher, the six-year-old mare has done her best running at Delaware Park, winning five of her seven starts including winning the Del 'Cap in 2007 with Ramon Dominguez aboard.

Next in the weights at 118 is the streaking Pin Oak Stables' Euphony, who will be coming into the Del 'Cap riding a six race win streak.

Trained by Donnie Von Hemel, the four-year-old filly won the Iowa Distaff in her last start at Prairie Meadows.

The filly does not need to take her track with her. During her six-race win streak, she won at five different racetracks, with wins over turf, polytrack, and conventional dirt.

Skylighter, who was the beaten favorite in the Obeah, will carry 116 if she goes for Darley Stable and trainer Bobby Frankel.

Sent off at 9/5 in the Obeah, she stalked the early pace from the outside and did not have any punch in the stretch, finishing 13½ lengths behind Unbridled Belle.

In her previous start on Preakness Day at Pimlico, the filly produced her career best effort winning the Allaire Dupont Distaff (G2).

Dawn After Dawn is the lone runner shipping in from the west coast. The five-year-old mare is owned by Ike and Dawn Thrash and trained by John Sadler.

Her last outing came in the Vanity Handicap (G1), where she ran into the undefeated Zenyatta. The mare stalked the early pace, grabbed the lead in the stretch but could not hold off the champion in the late stages, settling for third as pacesetter Briecat battled back gamely to complete the exacta.

She will be an interesting player in the field, making all of her recent starts on turf or synthetic surfaces.

While the Del 'Cap is the marquee event of the season at Delaware Park, there is plenty of other supporting stakes this weekend at the Stanton, De. track.

Saturday's feature races include the Carpenter Memorial, Robert G. Dick Memorial (G3), and the Delaware Oaks (G2).

Sunday's supporting races include the Lighthearted Stakes and the Barbaro Stakes (G3).