Shawnee winner Idiomatic leads field of 6 in Delaware Handicap

Juddmonte’s Idiomatic tops a field of six in the 86th running of the Grade 2, $500,000 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park on Saturday.

This will be the first year the filly and mare race will be contested at 1 3/16 miles after being run at 1 1/4 miles every year since 1951 except 2020, when race was run at 1 1/8 miles because of the pandemic. The Delaware Handicap has been carded as the ninth race with an approximate post time of 4:46 p.m. EDT.

In her most recent, Idiomatic notched a 2 1/2-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Shawnee (G3) at Churchill Downs on June 3. Previously, the 4-year-old daughter of Curlin ran second in the one-mile Ruffian (G2) at Belmont Park on May 6. The Kentucky-bred conditioned by Brad Cox has a career record of 8: 5-1-2 with earnings of $474,490.

Morning Matcha could give Butch Reid a rare training double by winning the Delaware Oaks and the Delaware Handicap in the same year. Todd Pletcher and Jerry Hollendorfer are the only trainers to win both races in the same year. Pletcher won both with Adieu (Oaks) and Fleet Indian (DelCap) in 2006 and Hollendorfer won both with It Tiz Well (Oaks) and Songbird (DelCap) in 2017.

Reid won his second Delaware Oaks last Saturday with Foggy Night. The 66-year-old from Woodbury, N.J., won his first Delaware Oaks with Project Whiskey in 2020. He has never had a starter in the Delaware Handicap.

“For me personally, it is fantastic to have this opportunity especially because Delaware Park is a racetrack I grew up within a half-hour of, so we were always watching those big races,” said Reid. “As a kid, we were always coming to Delaware Park and those were races we always looked forward to coming to watch so this is really exciting. We have been fortunate to be very lucky at Delaware over the last few years.”

In her most recent, Morning Matcha finished second beaten a nose in the local prep, the 1 1/16-mile $160,000 Obeah Stakes on May 27. In her only other outing this year, the Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Central Banker posted a 2-length triumph in the seven-furlong state-bred $103,000 Unique Bella Stakes at Parx on April 24.

Last year, the 4-year-old had a record of 10: 2-2-3, including a third in the Delaware Oaks, a second in the Cotillion (G1) at Parx and a third in the Comley (G3) at Aqueduct. She has a career record of 19: 5-6-5 with earnings of $743,390. She was bred by Crane Thoroughbred Services about 74 miles from Delaware Park in Lebanon County, Pa.

“I am pretty excited about Morning Matcha, especially after looking at the past performances of the race,” Reid said. “It looks like there is a fair amount of speed in the race, so it should set up really nice for her. The reason we ran her in the Obeah was to give her a race over the track this season. As a trainer who has been running horses at Delaware Park for a long time, I really appreciate giving a horse a race over the track. Hopefully that will work to our advantage. It seems like she handled it last time, but she just had a little bad luck. A little bit longer distance should help her as well because she is the kind that can run all day. The distance should be right up her alley.”

Her jockey Paco Lopez will also be shooting for the Delaware Oaks/Delaware Handicap double as he was the rider aboard Foggy Night in the Delaware Oaks last Saturday. The last time a jockey won both races in the same year was 1977 when John Velasquez accomplished the feat aboard Cum Laude Laurie (Oaks) and Our Mims (DelCap). Three other jockeys have also done so: Eddie Maple with Pacific Princess (Oaks) and Optimistic Gal (DelCap) in 1976, John Rotz with Gallant Bloom (Oaks) and Obeah (DelCap) in 1969 and William Hartack with Bayou (Oaks) and Princess Turia (DelCap) in 1957.

Since the Obeah Stakes was inaugurated in 1996, four fillies or mares have won the race and followed with a victory in the Delaware Handicap. They were the 2006 older female champion Fleet Indian, I’m a Chatterbox in 2016, Miss Marissa in 2021 and Miss Leslie last year. Two fillies have finished second in the Obeah and won the Delaware Handicap. They were Power Play in 1997 and Unbridled Belle in 2007. Three winners of the Obeah Stakes have followed by running second in the Delaware Handicap. They were Under the Rug in 2001, Your Out in 2002 and the 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace.