We have a make up day here at Delaware Park after the races were cancelled on Saturday due to the extreme heat that gripped the East this weekend. With the flexibility of what was a dark Monday after a special Sunday card at the Stanton, Delaware oval, the Saturday races were moved to Monday with the drawn fields kept intact.
Delaware Oaks
A race that I had planned to discuss on Saturday’s “Also Eligible”, the Delaware Oaks, returns on Monday as we have seven three-year-old fillies entered to go a mile and a sixteenth for this Grade 3 race, but only six will run, barring any other changes.
The 6 Mystic Lake will be scratched from this race. She ran on Thursday at Aqueduct and finished after leading all the way around in the Victory Ride and losing the lead near the wire. The fact that she would have been lone speed might have been tempting in the Delaware Oaks today, but her connections chose to run in that six and a half furlong race instead.
The 3 Power Squeeze (3/2 morning line) is favored in the Delaware Oaks and she will actually be shortening up today after running a mile and an eighth in the Kentucky Oaks and then she was wide on the final turn in the Acorn at Saratoga last month. She has been closer to the pace since she returned on New Year’s Day at Gulfstream Park, but she was further back in the Oaks and the Acorn.
Probably the best thing that happened to Power Squeeze is the fact that Thorpedo Anna was not entered for this race. Personally, I think Thorpedo Anna is the best three-year-old, male or female, so there is no shame in that Acorn race where she bounced back after a ho hum performance at Churchill Downs.
The 2 Call Another Play (8/1 ML) ran well in the Black Eyed Susan, but that race did not have any world-beaters in that race. She was close to the pace, but she was never catching the winner that day. She will be no more than a couple of lengths behind the leader(s) here.
The 7 Sidamara (7/2 ML) finished second in the slop at Gulfstream running much closer to the pace than she did in April at Keeneland and May at Churchill Downs. If we were to win the Delaware Oaks today, she will definitely need tiring horses on the front end. She has the stamina to go even longer, but will she have the set up to win this.
The 5 Princess Indy (15/1 ML) might be the horse on the lead here in the Delaware Oaks. She was near the front despite stumbling at the start, but still finished second at Laurel. She won from near the pace last summer at Monmouth going two turns last summer. She probably does not win, but she is a filly that could be on the lead here if she runs like her two successful tried around two turns.
I admit that I do not know who is going for the lead. This may end up looking like a turf race where the fillies will be looking to have a two-to-three-furlong sprint to the finish. Power Squeeze has a distinct class advantage here and her connections must be thankful that Thorpedo Anna is nowhere to be found. Let’s call this 3-2-7-5, and my play is $20 win on the 3.
You probably are not going to win a ton of money, but sometimes you have to take those small wins so that you can set yourself up for a bigger win down the road, which is what I am hoping for when tomorrow’s race is released here on Bleacher Brothers. Good luck everyone!
Check out my show “Also Eligible” on Saturday mornings at 10 am Eastern/7 am Pacific on the Bleacher Brothers’ Facebook, X, Twitch and YouTube accounts as AJ Johnson and I discuss the big races, the latest news in horse racing and much more!