Delaware Park Notebook

DELAWARE PARK NOTEBOOK

SEPTEMBER 28, 2007

by Albie Johnson

Just a single stakes race took place during week 22 of the 2007 meeting, but

there were also some impressive individual performances of note on

Sunday.

Saturday's feature, the $56,800 Irish Sonnet S. for two-year-old fillies at a mile,

originally attracted a fine field of eight youngsters, but late defections

reduced the starting group down to four. After stalking the contested pace battle

between the two favored shippers, BSHARPSONATA (Pulpit) swung around the

embattled leaders as they approached the stretch and drew away to win handily by

seven lengths. Philadelphia Park shipper Erin's Golden Star (Cat Thief) won the

battle for the place, outkicking favored Unbridled Rhapsody (Songandaprayer), who

had shipped in from Monmouth. Bsharpsonata broke her maiden locally on July

15, and trainer Timothy Salzman then shipped her out for a pair of premiere

stakes, the Adirondack (G2) at Saratoga and the Sorority at Monmouth

Park. Those were obviously tough assignments for a horse who had just scored her

first win and she failed to hit the board in both spots, but to her credit she did well under the circumstances. Eric Camacho

rode the bay filly for the first time on Saturday, and Bsharpsonata covered the mile in 1:39.16.

On Sunday, trainer Jonathan Sheppard saddled a pair of Augustin Stable

homebreds to impressive wins. In the 6TH race, JUST HOPING (Gulch) broke her

maiden going five furlongs on the grass in start number two of her career. The

sophomore filly debuted

at Saratoga  and ran well despite being a bit intimidated by the hedge draw,

finishing a close fourth. Just Hoping displayed improved speed here and rallied inside of

the drifting leader to win going away in :58.37. Looks like she is very

talented, and she'll probably be sent longer soon.

Two races later, Sheppard tightened the girth on LONG APPROACH (Broad Brush), who took her third in a row.

The sophomore filly stalked the pace before swinging out, and edged away late

to win by 1 1/2 lengths. Long Approach will soon be headed to a stakes

somewhere on the Eastern Seaboard, if not here. She's been impressive during her streak,

with this victory, like the other two, coming against mostly older runners.

The main track was fast, and the turf course firm for the five days of live

racing just completed. A bit of a speed bias existed on both surfaces, but was

more pronounced on the dirt. Inside paths were especially good on the dirt on

Tuesday and Wednesday. Many outside horses that swept up

around the far turn could not carry their momentum as they straightened away.

That particular strategy had proved successful many times during the past three

weeks. The turf was not kind to any horse who was not in the first flight as they hit

the far turn.

HORSES TO WATCH

Saturday (9/22)

4TH - PLATINUM PLUS (Mizzen Mast) had a very poor beginning in her racing

debut. The Barclay Tagg-trained filly took her share of money at the windows

with Ramon Dominguez, but she had no chance against the race-time favorite, who

was long gone after the start and won off by 6 1/4

lengths. The decision to not push this runner after the bad getaway was a

good one.

5TH - VICTORY FOR SIERRA (Victory Gallop) trailed the field early on,

launched a rally around the far turn, then was fanned widest into the lane.

Closed well to finish third. Filly has more positional speed than she showed in

this race, so maybe she had some problems that weren't visible.

Sunday (9/23)

7TH - CAT CRIMINAL (Tale of the Cat) ran a very dull race trailing the field

early, and never really got involved. He figured to show speed in this

two-turn affair, but another runner bounded off and set suicidal fractions (:22.66

and :45.91), so maybe the poor start was by design. The colt passed several down the

stretch, so it wasn't a physical problem.

Monday (9/24)

5TH - UNCONDITIONAL RESQ (Posse) made a left hand turn at the break from his

rail post and spotted the field many lengths. Never got involved after that.

Colt had been working very well for start number two, so this one is best

forgiven.

Tuesday (9/25)

5TH - HONORABLE TURN (Honour and Glory) raced very wide the entire race from

an outside post (9) in this two-turn maiden claimer. Ran against a strong inside

bias, yet he stayed on well to midstretch before tiring badly late. Effort

wasn't bad, and with a friendlier draw he may run much better at a square price.

Wednesday (9/26)

6TH - FRIAR (Arch) had good inside position as they approached the far turn.

Appeared that the horse was in tight quarters, as the rider stood up for a split

second. Never got involved after that. May need straight sellers to show his

best, as this was an allowance/optional claimer.

TRAINER'S NOTEBOOK

Just a quick review of the standings.

NAME		STARTS		WINS		SECONDS		THIRDS
Scott Lake		339		75		81		60
Michael Gorham		174		49		31		25
Steve Klesaris		133		39		30		17
Timothy Ritchey		147		37		20		16
J. Larry Jones		180		36		31		38
Anthony Dutrow		142		35		25		25
Michael Pino		140		33		24		27
H. Graham Motion		130		31		24		12
Anthony Pecoraro		94		23		20		11
Randy Nunley		148		22		20		25