Stakes Winner

Another generation of stakes-winning Delp trainers has emerged on Maryland's thoroughbred racing circuit.Gerald Delp, 32, sent out his first stakes starter, Riverland, yesterday in Pimlico's Toddler Breeders' Cup, and the 2-year-old filly, sent off the 6-5 favorite in the 10-horse field, responded with a neck victory over the White Rose Stable's Sweetheart Slew."

Et cetera Sagamore Farm filly wins Belmont's Matron Millionreasonswhy, a 2-year-old filly from Sagamore Farm, won the 104th running of the $150,000 Grade II Matron Stakes on Sunday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. Under jockey John Velazquez and trained by Ignacio Correas IV , the 6-1 shot finished two lengths in front of Say a Novena while clocking six furlongs in 1minute, 12.68seconds. A $115,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Sagamore last year, Millionreasonswhy is by Grand Slam out of the listed stakes winner In Secure, by A.P. Indy.

Eight stakes winners are among 13 3-year-old fillies scheduled to vie in today's $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, the Preakness eve feature at Pimlico.The 70th running of the Grade II race has lured Forcing Bid, Alywow and Ask Shananie, all multiple stakes victors, for a 1 1/8 -mile test.All three will carry extra weight, with Forcing Bid assigned 122 pounds, Alywow 119 and Ask Shananie 117. Premier Mombo, a stakes winner around two turns last September here, will also carry 117 pounds. All others get 114.Forcing Bid has come from off the pace in her past two starts, winning the Grade III Busher Breeders' Cup at Aqueduct and the National Jockey Club Oaks at Sportsman's Park, both at 1 1/6 miles.

Apart overtook Colizeo down the stretch to with the $100,000 William Donald Schaefer Memorioal by a neck. Jockey Garrett Gomez, who also won the race last year, circled three wide into the lane to overtake Colizeo, a Todd Pletcher-trained entry who led from the beginning. “I wanted to sit back a little and just make one run with him,” Gomez said. “When the pace slowed down a little to my liking, I was able to edge up a little closer to [Colizeo]. I always felt I had him within range.

Horse racing Draw for $1.25M Haskell, featuring 'Rachel,' is today The field for Sunday's 42nd running of the $1.25 million Grade I Haskell Invitational has started to assemble at Monmouth, and the race will be drawn on at 11:30 a.m. today. The Haskell draw can be seen live on the Monmouth Park website, www.monmouthpark.com. Already on the grounds are Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, Arkansas Derby winner Papa Clem, Long Branch Stakes winner Atomic Rain, Continental Mile stakes winner Bunker Hill and Iowa Derby winner Duke of Mischief.

Apart overtook Colizeo down the stretch to with the $100,000 William Donald Schaefer Memorioal by a neck. Jockey Garrett Gomez, who also won the race last year, circled three wide into the lane to overtake Colizeo, a Todd Pletcher-trained entry who led from the beginning. “I wanted to sit back a little and just make one run with him,” Gomez said. “When the pace slowed down a little to my liking, I was able to edge up a little closer to [Colizeo]. I always felt I had him within range.

Onto Luck looked the part of a determined racehorse when he closed with a rush at Laurel Park yesterday and defeated 8-5 favored Without Remorse in the $31,975 Ambernash Stakes.But such perseverance has not always been the horse's trademark, said trainer Ned Allard.He had the ability but didn't concentrate. "He ran," Allard said, "in his first few starts like a horse that needed to be gelded."The necessary operation was performed and has been an unqualified success. The former loser has won three straight as a gelding, including yesterday's feature.

Today: The $75,000 Private Terms Stakes, set for its 12th running, has attracted 10 3-year-olds, including several nominees for the Triple Crown series. While several of those entered have never gone 1 1/8 miles, Connect, Oro de Tejano and Dawn of the Condors have won at this route. Connect won the Miracle Wood stakes here in January, while Oro de Tejano and Dawn of the Condors are local allowance victors. Of those eligible for the Triple Crown, Ben the Man would have been the classiest of the group.

LAUREL -- The Bernie Bond stable must think it has a little black cloud hanging over its shedrow.For the second straight day, Bond ran an odds-on favorite in a Laurel stakes, and lost.Yesterday, Jazzy One wore down 4-5 favorite Gala Prospector and beat her a head after a prolonged stretch drive in the $44,025 Gay Matelda Stakes.It was a vintage ride by Edgar Prado, who has won half of Laurel's eight stakes this year.Prado tracked the favorite, then angled Jazzy One to the outside when he found room and refused to give up in the stretch even though he looked beaten by Gala Prospector.

For the past few years, Dale Capuano has worn the mantle of Maryland's up-and-coming young trainer.Now he's got quite a worthy rival in Graham Motion, 31, who differs in both style and stable strategy.Capuano has shown he can bring along young horses and win stakes, but he still deals mostly in volume and claimers.Motion strictly develops young horses, mostly for breeders, and has a proven high win percentage -- about 39 percent so far at Laurel this summer with seven winners from 18 starters.

Horse racing Draw for $1.25M Haskell, featuring 'Rachel,' is today The field for Sunday's 42nd running of the $1.25 million Grade I Haskell Invitational has started to assemble at Monmouth, and the race will be drawn on at 11:30 a.m. today. The Haskell draw can be seen live on the Monmouth Park website, www.monmouthpark.com. Already on the grounds are Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, Arkansas Derby winner Papa Clem, Long Branch Stakes winner Atomic Rain, Continental Mile stakes winner Bunker Hill and Iowa Derby winner Duke of Mischief.

E. Edward Houghton, a prominent thoroughbred horse breeder and fox hunter, died Sunday of pulmonary fibrosis at Buckingham Farm, his Chestertown home. He was 67. Mr. Houghton was born in Somerville, N.J., and raised in Colorado and Pennsylvania. He was a graduate of Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pa., and earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Houghton was farm manager at Happy Hill Farm, a thoroughbred breeding farm in Newtown Square, Pa., from 1960 to 1964.

Xchanger, the 3-year-old son of Exchange Rate and the winner of Saturday's Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico Race Course, still doesn't know where he will be on the first Saturday in May. Will he be at the Kentucky Derby or in his Fair Hill Training Center stall? The colt's owners, Circle Z Stables, which includes Baltimorean Domenico Zannino and trainer Mark Shuman, have the option of entering him in the Derby, looking ahead to the Preakness or selling him. Shuman said last night offers for at least seven figures have been received, but so far no one has hit "the magic" number.

Cherokee's Boy, who is scheduled to be retired to stud after the race, has been installed as an overwhelming 1-2 favorite on the overnight line for the $250,000 Maryland Million Classic on Saturday at Laurel Park. The Classic is the headliner on the 21st annual Maryland Million Day program, which drew 117 starters for 12 races with purses worth nearly $1.5 million. With the assistance of good weather, Million officials are hoping for an on-track crowd approaching 25,000 for a card with a first post of 12:35 p.m. The racing is limited to the offspring of Maryland sires - a concept originated by Jim McKay.

Joe De Francis, the Maryland Jockey Club's chief executive officer, was all smiles at the Preakness Stakes draw yesterday, not at all put off by suggestions made during the ESPN broadcast that poor sportsmanship was being shown by the majority of trainers who chose not to bring their Kentucky Derby horses to the Preakness. "I think the problem was that Barbaro was so dominant trainers didn't want to face him again," De Francis said. "It's always a mixed blessing - or a double-edged sword - for a horse to win the Derby as easily as he did. The positive is that it generates excitement and enthusiasm for the Triple Crown among a lot of average spectators and the negative is it's very much tougher to convince the 19 trainers behind him to take him on in the Preakness.

The O'Donovans of Upperco are proof positive that good things come to those who wait. In the business of breeding thoroughbreds for more than 40 years and married for 60, they had never produced a graded stakes winner at a flat track. Until July 19, that is. On that Saturday, Perfect Moon, a 2-year-old gelding out of the O'Donovans' mare Perfectly, came from behind to capture the Grade III Hollywood Juvenile Championship on the final weekend at Hollywood Park in California. As octogenarians, the O'Donovans had scored a major breakthrough.

Two of the best local Preakness-age colts clash today for the first time in the Dancing Count Stakes at Laurel Race Course.They are the proven stakes winner, Run Alden, and the unbeaten 3-year-old, Can't Be Denied, who has won his first two Laurel starts by a combined total of 11 1/2 lengths.A third principal contender, graded stakes winner Popol's Gold, will be scratched, according to his trainer, Billy Turner.Run Alden, winner of the Maryland Million Nursery and Maryland Juvenile Championship, "gave us a scare three weeks ago when he slipped and hurt his stifle [hip joint]

A pair of $50,000 stakes races for 3-year-olds highlight the race cards this weekend at Laurel Park. Today Six fillies are entered to start in the $50,000 Landaura Stakes. All six are looking for their first stakes victory. Five of the six come into the race off wins. Three of these won their previous starts in New York. In 23 combined starts, the six have finished in the money 21 times. Skeedattle Associates' Strike It Up galloped home by 13 lengths in an allowance score at Aqueduct on Jan. 31. She is trained by Anthony Dutrow and will be ridden by Rick Wilson.

NEW KENT, Va. - The maximum field of 14 runners, including Preakness also-ran Bay Eagle, will battle for the winner's share of the $200,000 purse in today's fourth renewal of the Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs. Contested at 1 1/4 miles on the track's state-of-the-art turf course, the race is the state's richest. Bay Eagle is one of two Virginia-bred horses in the 3-year-old field and the leading money winner ($139,923). He finished eighth to Point Given in the Preakness, but is largely untested on the grass with only one start, a second-place finish in a maiden race at Laurel Park in November.

A pair of $50,000 stakes races for 3-year-olds highlight the race cards this weekend at Laurel Park. Today Six fillies are entered to start in the $50,000 Landaura Stakes. All six are looking for their first stakes victory. Five of the six come into the race off wins. Three of these won their previous starts in New York. In 23 combined starts, the six have finished in the money 21 times. Skeedattle Associates' Strike It Up galloped home by 13 lengths in an allowance score at Aqueduct on Jan. 31. She is trained by Anthony Dutrow and will be ridden by Rick Wilson.