All eyes on Songbird in Delaware Handicap

Songbird’s presence in the $750,000 Delaware Handicap puts Delaware Park front and center nationwide Saturday and will boost the crowd on what already is the best-attended day of the season.

The rub is that she figures to be somewhere between 1-5 and 1-20 in the wagering.

It’s not easy lining up suitable rivals for Songbird, just as when the great Zenyatta ran out of competition. Delaware Park was able to find five challengers for Songbird primarily because second place is worth $150,000, third money is $82,500, and the top three finishers earn Grade 1 black type.

Songbird is 12 for 13, has earned $4.1 million, and has been favored in all of her starts. She has been sent off at odds between 1-5 and 1-20 on six occasions. The most generous price she has been in her last 11 races came in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff, where she was beaten a nose hair at even-money by 3-1 Beholder.

Finding a chink in Songbird’s armor is difficult. This is a handicap, and she will carry 124 pounds, conceding nine to 13 pounds to her five opponents, which she seems more than capable of doing.

The Del Cap is 1 1/4 miles, a distance she has attempted only once. She won that race, the Grade 1 Alabama, by seven lengths.

:: Get PPs, clocker reports, and more for the Saratoga and Del Mar meets

Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer is not worried about the distance.

“I think she can do that,” he said. “I get her ready, and she does the rest. She makes me look good.”

Songbird’s only apparent weakness is that she was not as brilliant as usual in her last start, the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park. She edged away from Paid Up Subscriber to win the 1 1/16-mile stakes by a length but lacked her usual explosiveness.

The Phipps was her first start since the Breeders’ Cup, however, and Hollendorfer and owner Rick Porter expect her to move forward Saturday.

“She’s ready to run,” Hollendorfer said. “I thought she ran so well off a long layoff that she deserves a lot of credit. I think she’ll be a little better this time.”

Hollendorfer has had great success at Delaware Park and is 4 for 6 there over the past 10 seasons. He won the Delaware Oaks and Delaware Handicap with Blind Luck in 2010 and 2011, the Del Cap in 2008 with Hystericalady, and last Saturday won another Delaware Oaks with It Tiz Well.

Songbird has the most speed in this 80th running of the Del Cap, and it’s hard to imagine any of the others taking her on early. Mike Smith, who has been aboard for all of her starts, likely will go straight to the front.

Plans call for Songbird to return to California after the race. Porter said this week he would like to be more aggressive in her next start, possibly running against Stellar Wind – who has won four of her last five starts and beat Beholder twice in a row last year – or taking on males.

Weep No More is the only other graded stakes winner in the field. She put together three consecutive wins for trainer Rusty Arnold in 2016, taking a maiden race and the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs before pulling off a 30-1 upset in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland. She has not hit the board in five starts since.

The second highweight to Songbird at 115 pounds is Martini Glass, who is stabled at Delaware Park with trainer and co-owner Keith Nations. Martini Glass is 7 for 14 in her career and just missed by a neck last out in the Obeah, the local Del Cap prep. Nations claimed Martini Glass for $16,000 out of a winning debut effort at Tampa Bay Downs in February 2016.

The field is completed by Hone In, Line of Best Fit, and Miss Mo Kelly.

The Delaware Handicap card includes three supporting stakes topped by the Grade 3, $200,000 Kent, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-olds. Frostmourne, the winner of the Grade 2 Penn Mile for trainer Christophe Clement, will be a solid favorite. Joel Rosario is coming in from New York to ride.

First post Saturday is 1:15 p.m. Eastern. The Delaware Handicap is scheduled for 5:30.

The Delaware Handicap will be part of the “NYRA Live” television program that will air from 4 to 6 p.m. on Fox Sports 2, MSG Plus, FOX Sports Prime Ticket, FOX Sports Ohio, and FOX Sports San Diego.