Several New Trainers Arrive at Delaware Park

As the 79th season of live racing quickly approaches, several new trainers from across the country have been arriving at Delaware Park in preparation for Saturday, May 21. Trainers include Gerald Bennett, George Leonard III, Keith Nations, Kelly Rubley, Bobby Raymond, Harold Wyner and John Servis.

 

Several of those outfits will either be stabling at the Stanton-oval for the first-time or will be moving back after a long time away. 

 

Gerald Bennett, the leading trainer at Tampa Bay Downs, will have approximately 60 stalls.  The 72-year-old native of Springhill, Nova Scotia, will be bringing a wide variety of runners to Delaware Park.

 

“We have a pretty good mix of older horses, 2-year-olds and some 3-year-olds fillies,” said trainer Gerald Bennett.  “I looked at the book and I think our operation fits well with the Delaware Park program.” 

 

Bennett, who ranks 19th all-time and 11th among active trainers by wins, did briefly stable at Delaware once before.

 

“We did go to Delaware once before in 1998,” Bennett said.  “Although several years ago and things have changed with our stable and with Delaware Park, we are looking forward to going back.”

 

George Leonard III, who comes from a racing family, will have approximately 20 stalls.  The 61-year-old native of Chicago, Illinois, who has been all over North America some time during his career, is looking forward to racing and stabling at Delaware Park.

 

“I have just been about everywhere in my career – Louisiana, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Florida, but I have never really been stabled in the mid-Atlantic, so I am looking forward to spending the summer here,” trainer George Leonard III said.  “I have heard a lot of great things about racing in this area and I also heard a lot of great things about Delaware Park, so I decided to come see for myself and try something new.”

 

Leonard has enjoyed his first month stabled at Delaware Park.

 

“I like it here so far,” said Leonard, who won his first race as a trainer at Jefferson Downs in Louisiana in 1991.  “It is everything I heard it would be and more.  The people are extremely nice and it is a great place for horses.”

 

Leonard will have a wide variety of horses stabled at Delaware Park including Serdynski.  In his most recent, the 6-year-old son of Best of the Bests ran second beaten a length in a mile and 40 yard $16,000 claiming race at Tampa Bay Downs on March 20.  The Ontario-bred owned by Dave Hearn has a career record of 8 wins, 7 seconds and three thirds from 45 starts with earnings of $109,930.

 

“I have pretty well balanced stable right now,” said Leonard.  “I have cheap, middle class and a couple that should do well in the allowance conditions. I am looking forward to running Serdynski.  He always gives a solid effort and is a special horse.”

 

Keith Nations, who saddled his first winner at Emerald Downs in Washington in 1991, will have approximately 40 stalls.  The 55-year-old native of Sylva, North Carolina relocated his operation to the mid-Atlantic from northern California in 2013.  He was primarily stabled at Parx, but this year he is planning on having 30 to 40 horses at Delaware and 10 to 15 at Parx.

 

“I could not be happier about making the move to the mid-Atlantic.  It was the best thing I could have done,” said trainer Keith Nations. “We shipped-in and ran a race at Delaware Park last year and my wife (Cheryl) and I really liked the facility.  We loved it.  Besides the incredible paddock and horse-friendly stable area, Delaware Park has a really good to feel.  That is something that is becoming very important to us. We decided it was time for a change during the spring and summer and Delaware was very attractive to us.”

 

Nations will have a nice mix in his barn, including some Delaware Certified horses and young horses.

 

“We have a pretty solid stable and I think we will be very competitive,” Nations said.  “I have been encouraging all of my owners to get their horses Delaware Certified because it is an outstanding program so we got a pretty good group of Delaware Certified horses.  We have a nice bunch of 2-year-olds we are pretty excited about.  Mercedes Stable bought some really nice young horses and I am expecting to get some of those.  I have some other clients that have bought some nice young horses, so we are pretty excited about that.”

 

Others making preparations for the 2016 season at Delaware Park include Jamie Ness, J. Larry Jones, H. Graham Motion; Tim Ritchey, Randy Allen, Randy Nunley, Sam Cronk, Michael Gorham, Anthony Pecoraro, Louis Albertrani, John Rigaterri, Jonathan Sheppard, Bill Sienkewicz, Thomas Proctor, Mark Reid, Tim Ice, Baltazar Galvan, Ron Potts, Arnaud Delacour, Ronald Alfano, and Scott Lake.   

 

Watch and wager on the Kentucky Derby from Churchill Downs at Delaware Park on Saturday, May 7.  Advance wagering on the Kentucky Derby card from Churchill Downs at Delaware Park will be available on Friday, May 6.

 

2016 Live Racing Dates

The 79th season of live racing at the Stanton oval will feature 81 days with the meet starting on May 21 and concluding on October 15.  The first week of the meet, live racing will be held three days per week on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday schedule.  Live racing will be added on Thursdays from June 2 through September 22.  Beginning on September 29, Thursdays will be dropped from the schedule and live racing will revert back to a Monday, Wednesday and Saturday schedule through closing day.  First post time is set for 1:15 p.m. daily.