The Grade 1 Delaware Handicap has enticed the superstar Songbird and five other fillies and mares. The $750,000 fixture will be run at a mile and a quarter on Saturday at Delaware Park and those unlucky five will need to have their running shoes on.
A Handicap race is a race in which horses carry different weights, determined by the track handicapper. A better horse will carry a heavier weight, to give him or her a disadvantage when racing against slower horses. The concept behind a Handicap race is to put the correct amount of weight on each horse so that theoretically, they would come all together on the finish line.
In years past Handicap races were justified and common but they are not popular or adaptable in this day and age.
Having speed was the thing to do in last year’s Delaware Handicap. I’m a Chatterbox was coming off a stalk and pounce win in a $100,000 stakes and then she was never worse than a length and a half away from the lead in this race. She had a two-length lead at the top of the stretch and extended to win with a 97 Beyer Speed Figure.
Miss Kelly Mo is taking a huge swing in this race. She has lost all five of her starts this year and the two times she ran third, she was losing ground in the stretch. Her claim to fame is that she won a $100,000 stakes at Remington Park last year but she was 27-1 that day. In her last couple of Graded races, Miss Kelly Mo only beat one horse to the wire. Her connections have to hope the leaders in the Delaware Handicap duel and just collapse. She does take breakfast at the very good stable of Kellyn Gorder
Martini Glass can be looked at half full if one looks deep enough. She has won half of her fourteen starts and she is proven at Delaware. Freshened since last October, Martini Glass won her first three starts this year but staggered home last time in the Obeah Stakes. She fought hard in that race and had the lead at the top of the stretch but was beaten by a neck. One of her best assets is her trainer Keith Nations. This conditioner is high percentage year in and year out and he has won with 19% of his starters this year. This daughter of Kitalpha has trained fast for this event and she comes out of a productive event. The show horse in the Obeah returned to beat a field of classified allowance runners and the fourth finisher in the Obeah won a $75,000 Canadian stakes next out.
Weep No More is trying to regain the form that she established last year. After not being able to handle a sloppy track in her debut, this miss reeled off three straight wins including a victory in the Grade 1 Ashland. The main concern about Weep No More is that she has zero speed and needs things to break just right up front. Trained by George Arnold, the conditioner adds blinkers for this race but it’s hard to see them being the cure all. Joel Rosario comes in from New York to ride.
Line of Best Fit is a tough cookie at the age of seven. She has bounced around the minor leagues most of her career but has a penchant for finding the winner’s circle. She has won 15 of her 38 starts. Claimed for $25,000 in January of 2016, Line of Best Fit has won seven times since but never against this caliber rival.
Songbird is one of the most accomplished runners ever to show up in the Delaware Handicap. She has won multiple Grade 1 events and is 12 for 13 in her career. Her only defeat came by a scant nose in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff last year when beaten by champion Beholder. Trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, this miss has speed but doesn’t need the lead to win. Her top career Beyer Speed Figure of 105 would blow this field away and she has trained forwardly since taking the Ogden Phipps Stakes in June. Since that race she has worked three times including a best of the morning: 59 3/5 spin at Santa Anita. Hollendorfer is no stranger to the Delaware Handicap. He won this race in 2008 with Hysterically and again with Blind Luck in 2011.
Hone In completes the short and compact cast in the Delaware Handicap. This mare has some semblance of speed but she will not make the lead today. She has shown she can overcome adversity as she won on a sloppy surface in her only win this year. That was against much softer foes and only three other horses participated in that race.
As happy hour approaches and the connections of Martini Glass contemplate the strategy for the Delaware Handicap, this filly’s prime asset is her versatility. She has won taking the lead from the sound of the bell and she has won coming from third to last. She figures to be in the garden spot early this time, maybe sitting third off a moderate pace.
If Line of Best Fit is going to seriously contend in the Delaware Handicap, it appears she will be asked for speed at the sound of the bell. She has won sprinting and she is sharp right now but the reality of it is that she is no match for Songbird.
Songbird just does whatever it takes to win. She showed sub: 45 speed winning the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante when she was just a juvenile and she has a beautiful relaxing way of going. She has been a joy to ride as her Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith will attest and she may have just needed her last race. The other times Songbird has run the second time off a layoff, she has improved and she has prevailed. This miss was a gamble as a purchase as she cost $400,000 but she has already made ten times that amount and can build on her bankroll in this race.
Good Luck.
