Delaware Park announces dates, stakes schedule

Delaware Park has announced that its 2011 live racing season, the 74th in

track history, will feature 106 days with the meet starting on April 30 and

concluding on November 5. The projected average daily overnight purse

distribution is $200,000.

Beginning on May 7, live racing will be held on Saturdays, Mondays, Tuesdays

and Wednesdays. Daily first race post time is set for 1:15 p.m. (ET)

The track's premier races, the $750,000 Delaware H. (G2) and the $300,000

Delaware Oaks (G2), will highlight a 22-race, $3.175-million stakes schedule.

The 74th renewal of the Delaware H. will be run on July 16. The 1 1/4-mile

test for fillies and mares is the highlight of the Delaware Handicap Day card,

which will also include the $100,000 R.R.M. Carpenter Jr. Memorial S. and the

$100,000 Sussex S.

Last year, Todd Pletcher won the Delaware H. with Life at Ten (Malibu Moon)

and tied for most career Delaware H. wins with Henry Clark, who won the race

with Endine in 1958 and 1959 and Obeah in 1969 and 1970. Both Endine and Obeah

were locally owned by Christiana Stables. Pletcher won his first Delaware H. in

2001 with Irving's Baby. He followed by winning in 2006 with Fleet Indian and in

2007 with Unbridled Belle.

Additionally this season, three-year-old fillies will take center stage in

the 60th renewal of the 1 1/16-mile Delaware Oaks on July 9. The supporting

features on the Delaware Oaks Day card are the $200,000 Robert G. Dick Memorial

S. (G3) and the $100,000 Barbaro S.

Last season, for the second time in three years, the winner of the Delaware

Oaks went on to win the Eclipse Award as divisional champion. Last year, Blind

Luck (Pollard's Vision) won the Delaware Oaks as part of her championship

campaign. In 2008, Proud Spell followed the same course. After winning the

Delaware Oaks, both Blind Luck and Proud Spell went on to win the Alabama S.

(G1) at Saratoga.

A total of 18 fillies that won or placed in the Delaware Oaks have been been

named divisional champion.