Delaware Handicap - July 16th, 2011

Race Conditions:          Grade 2, 3+ Fillies and Mares, 10F, Dirt, Delaware Park

Race Class Par:                            102 
Race Class Rating:                       104

Winner's Time/Quality Rating:     105

Pace:                                           Average Early, Average Middle, Fast Late
Track Condition and Bias:           The rail may not have been the best part of the track

Race Comments: IMO the Delaware Handicap deserves Grade 1 status.  The large purse typically attracts a very strong field of fillies and mares and this year was no different.  While this field was not especially deep in talent, both Blind Luck and Havre de Grace are outstanding, if not great mares. They put on quite a show.

I came away with mixed feelings about which of the two is the better horse right now. Blind Luck seems to be the faster horse late and gets the best of her rival unless the pace is slow or she is given just too much to do late.  But this time I think had Ramon Dominguez moved aggressively just a tad sooner on Havre de Grace, he may have been able to hold her off.  Clearly he was hoping to save some horse for the finish, but Havre de Grace did not go out after the finish like a horse that was "done" at the wire.  So I suspect had he moved hard just a little sooner he may have put a bigger gap between himself and Blind Luck turning for home and finished just as well late.  Harve de Grace has a tactical advantage as the first mover, but you have to use it to take advantage of it.  All I can say is I can hardly wait to see the rematch to find out more.     

Notable Performances:

1. Blind Luck - settled near the back of the pack outside, moved a little earlier than usual on the backstretch to stay within striking distance, settled again, made an impressive 3 wide move to get close to Havre de Grace turning for home and outgamed her rival in deep stretch in a terrific performance.


2. Havre de Grace - settled into 3rd position, was 3 then 2 wide first turn, moved 3 then 2 wide on the second turn to take over without being asked for her best, seemed to wait on Blind Luck slightly until the quarter pole even though that one was already being hard ridden to gain on her, and then was outgamed late while finishing on the inside in a terrific performance.


3. Life At Ten - set a mildly pressured pace while on the inside and tired badly.  She's not nearly what she used to be, but the rail may not have been the best part of the track.  In any event, she was never going to contend against the top two.