Delaware Handicap
Remember when I was saying in these articles over the last couple of weeks that you should keep an eye on the track changes because of the heat? Well, we had a cancellation yesterday with Delaware Park, with their races planned for yesterday rescheduled for Monday afternoon.
I was not first with the news, but it was mentioned as one of my top news stories on yesterday’s Also Eligible show, which is on every Saturday at 10 am Eastern/7 am Pacific on all Bleacher Brothers streaming platforms.
Delaware Park has a huge weekend of racing and their signature race of the season is today as the ninth race on their Sunday card is the Delaware Handicap, for fillies and mares going a mile and three-sixteenths on the main track. Post time for the Grade 2 race is for 4:46 pm Eastern time.
The 6 Wet Paint is the 3/2 morning line favorite for this race, and she is coming into today’s race after finishing third in the Grade 3 Shawnee at Churchill Downs. She dropped back on the turn and came back to finish third in the race. She will need to settle about four or five lengths off the lead and make that run like she did when she was winning races, like her last at Saratoga last summer.
The 5 Morning Matcha (5/1 ML) was squeezed at the start and was swerving around all over the place down the backstretch in the Bed Of Roses at Aqueduct last month. She finished third in the Delaware Handicap here and could win this with a cleaner start. She loved going two turns, and has two seconds and a third at Delaware Park.
The 4 Queen of Missoula (8/1 ML) finished third in the Allaire DuPont at Pimlico and finished well despite a speed favoring track that weekend at Pimlico. She will love the Delaware Handicap distance, as she has won twice at a mile and a quarter on the synthetic at Turfway Park. Yes, this is a different surface, but she has shown that she has the ability to run all day.
The 8 Abundancia (15/1 ML) has run longer races in Peru, but the class of that race probably does not match the class in this field today. She was bumped at the start of her last race at Gulfstream Park at the end of April and was wide all around the track. She could be a longshot option here today as does not look as bad as it seems with all the noted trouble she had last time out.
I handicapped this race on yesterday’s Also Eligible show, but I did not have a confident pick since I wanted the viewers to read this article today. I leaned towards the 4 Queen of Missoula on the show, but I am leaning elsewhere today.
I want to eat chalk and take Wet Paint. She is facing an easier field today. But I don’t think she can get that tenth furlong, or in the case today, that final sixteenth of a mile for today’s distance.
I am going to take Morning Matcha who has shown that the distance does not matter to her. I’ll go 5-4-6-8 and my play is $20 to win on the 5. 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!