With June Start, Delaware Aims to Hit Ground Running

Delaware Park, a bucolic race course steeped in racing history but an operation battling stiff competition from other Mid-Atlantic region tracks, begins its 80th season of racing with a 10-race program June 3.

As has been the case in recent years, the Wilmington, Del. track, competes for horses and fans with a number of area tracks in the busy summer months. This year Delaware Park pushed back its opening day by two weeks, which Delaware Park director of racing John Mooney says will bring consistency to its racing schedule.

"By starting the first week in June, we are able to do several things," Mooney said, "For starters we can run a four day a week schedule right from the beginning. In past years, with a number of tracks down south remaining open later in the spring, we were forced to run three days a week until many of those stables were able to ship north. Running three days a week just wasn't economically feasible. Now we can run a four day a week schedule from day one."

With the June 3 opening day, Delaware plans to offer turf races from the beginning of the meet.

"We are also able to use the turf course and card turf races from opening day and not have to wait two or three weeks as in the past," Mooney said. "The figures show turf racing is very popular with the fans and horseplayers and betting figures show that."

Mooney also noted that with the later opening, comes a later closing day to the 81-date meet, a factor he says will pay off this fall. 

"A number of outfits who race down south in the winter have faced a gap in dates in late fall in past years," Mooney said. "Their winter tracks hadn't started yet and our meet came to a close in early October so for a month or so, many had no place to run. With the later closing, we feel we can go strong right up to the end in terms of field size and competitive racing."

Delaware plans an overnight purse schedule of $170,000, similar to last year and the stakes program is topped again this year by the grade 1, $750,000 Delaware Handicap. That 1 1/4-mile fixture will be run July 15 on a program that also will feature the grade 3 Kent Stakes for 3-year-olds going nine furlongs on the turf.

The training ranks will have some new faces this season. Dale Bennett, who ranked 11th in wins at the Tampa Bay Downs meeting, is one of several outfits who previously raced at Arlington International Racecourse in the summer but have changed their plans in the wake of the uncertain future of Illinois racing. 

Michael Stidham, who comes off a strong winter at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots that saw him finish fourth in the standings, has horses on the grounds at Delaware Park as well as at Fair Hill Training Center and is another moving from Arlington to the East Coast this summer. 

Other notables include Darian Rodriguez, a hands-on trainer who does just about everything workwise at his stable. Rodriguez won 10 of 31 starts at Tampa this winter and is a rising star. Michael Catalano is back after racing here several years back with a strong stable.

The jockey colony will have Mitchell Murrill for the first time. Murrill, who has been Stidham's go-to rider, has won 199 races in 2016-17 (through May 31). Edwin Gonzalez, second to Daniel Centeno at Tampa this winter with 85 victories, will be riding in the region.

Several young apprentices from the Maryland circuit also will be doing the I-95 circuit, riding at several different tracks. One of the more promising youngsters in that group is Carlos Carrasco, younger brother of Eclipse Award winner Victor Carrasco. 

Racing will be conducted Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The meet concludes Oct. 22.