Added Weight Awaits Elate in Delaware Handicap

When 5-year-old Elate attempts to defend her 2018 victory in the $750,000 Delaware Handicap (G2) July 13 at Delaware Park, the two-time grade 1 winner will be carrying five extra pounds compared with last year's effort.

The Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider homebred has been assigned high weight of 122 pounds, spotting her expected eight rival fillies and mares in Saturday's expected field anywhere from 2-10 pounds. Last year, carrying 117 pounds as the 3-5 favorite in a field of eight, Elate opened a four-length advantage and cruised home for a 3 1/4-length score in the 1 1/4-mile test.

Trained by Racing Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Elate enters off a clear victory in the Fleur de Lis Handicap (G2) June 15 at Churchill Downs. That effort snapped a three-race losing streak—not that Elate raced poorly as she earned placings in those three races, all grade 1 or grade 2 stakes. Mott believes stretching out a bit of distance in the Fleur de Lis helped and he's looking forward to the 1 1/4-mile Delaware Handicap.

"She won the Fleur de Lis and ran a great race. She finished well, made the lead inside the eighth pole, and was drawing away at the end," Mott said. "It was a very useful race and it seemed like the nine furlongs seemed to suit her much better than the previous two-times at a mile and a sixteenth. We are certainly looking forward to running her back in the Delaware Handicap at 10 furlongs."

Mott has won the Delaware Handicap three times: twice with soon-to-be Hall of Famer Royal Delta in 2012 and 2013 along with last year's score by Elate. A victory by Elate this year would equal the record for most wins in the race held by trainers Henry Clark and Todd Pletcher.

"I think anytime you can run in a race like this and keep winning them, it is a good thing," Mott said. "We just try to stay competitive every time we come to Delaware and it is nice to be keeping such good company."

Back to take on Elate again is Merriebelle Stable's Blue Prize, who finished second by 1 1/2 lengths in the Fleur de Lis. A grade 1-winning daughter of Pure Prize who has placed in both her races this year as she finished third in the La Troienne Stakes presented by Inside Access from Chase (G1) May 3 at Churchill, Blue Prize will carry 120 pounds Saturday. That two-pound advantage compared with Elate follows a Fleur de Lis where they each carried 120.

Trainer Ignacio Correas IV believes Saturday's distance is a good fit for Blue Prize.

"She is doing very well," Correas said. "We have been planning on running her in the Delaware Handicap since the beginning of the year. She is tough. She does not mind traveling, she loves to race, she is very adaptable, and I think she is going to love the mile and a quarter."

Win machine Escape Clause, who just missed upsetting Midnight Bisou in this year's Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn Park, will try for the 21st victory of her career. Campaigned by Barry Arnason, True North, and trainer Don Schnell, the daughter of Going Commando enters off a fourth-place finish in the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) June 8 at Belmont Park.

Schnell said the well-traveled Escape Clause has benefitted from an early arrival at Delaware, where she has worked twice since June 22.

"She is so much better now after being at Delaware for more than a month and I think she is going to run much better this Saturday," Schnell said. "We have shipped to more than 10 different racetracks, and while she has run well at all of them, I hope being here for a month in advance will finally give us a little bit of a home-field advantage.

"It seems like she loves the track. She has had two works at Delaware Park and she worked very well both times."

Pletcher will be looking for his fifth Delaware Handicap win when he sends out Madaket Stables, Elayne Stables, and Brian Martin's Another Broad, a daughter of Include  who finished third in the Obeah Stakes, a local prep. The two 4-year-old fillies who finished ahead of Another Broad in the Obeah, Gotham Gala and Goodonehoney, also are entered.

Entries: Delaware H. (G2)

Delaware Park, Saturday, July 13, 2019, Race 8

• Grade II
• 1 1/4m
• Dirt
• $750,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 5:25 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Another Broad (MD)	Jorge A. Vargas, Jr.	118	Todd A. Pletcher	10/1
2	2Gotham Gala (KY)	Daniel Centeno	118	Arnaud Delacour	8/1
3	3Escape Clause (MB)	Tyler Baze	119	Don Schnell	5/1
4	4Queen Nekia (FL)	Brian Pedroza	112	Anthony Pecoraro	20/1
5	5Promise of Spring (KY)	Carol Cedeno	115	Steve Margolis	12/1
6	6Blue Prize (ARG)	Joe Bravo	120	Ignacio Correas, IV	7/2
7	7Elate (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	122	William I. Mott	7/5
8	8Vente to Go (MD)	Jose Angel Garcia	113	Cesar Nambo	20/1
9	9Goodonehoney (MD)	Mychel J. Sanchez	117	Michael M. Moore	10/1