Delaware Park meeting begins Saturday

Opening day at Delaware Park will serve as an appetizer for the main course that will soon follow.

After a five-month break, live racing resumes Saturday with a 10-race card – nine for Thoroughbreds and the finale for Arabians – as Delaware launches its 74th season with festivities that include carnival-type activities and food in the picnic grove that overlooks the picturesque paddock. But there will be a one-week wait for the first stakes action and a little bit longer than that for the return of last year’s leading jockey, Rosie Napravnik.

After Saturday’s season opener, Delaware will be dark until the following Saturday, Kentucky Derby Day, when the Vince Moscarelli Memorial, which could attract the millionaire sprinter Fabulous Strike, begins a 22-race stakes schedule that will be highlighted by the Grade 2, $750,000 Delaware Handicap on July 16 and the Grade 2, $300,000 Delaware Oaks on July 9.

Napravnik, who became the first female to finish as Delaware’s leading rider last year and followed up on her success by becoming the top jockey at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, is currently riding in Kentucky, where she will remain until after her mount aboard Louisiana Derby winner Pants On Fire in the Kentucky Derby. Napravnik then intends to ride full-time at Delaware.