Creative Thinking at top of her game for Robert G. Dick Memorial

Creative Thinking had her hands full competing against first-level allowance runners until trainer Tom Proctor pushed the right button and stretched her out to 1 1/2 miles. The result has been back-to-back wins.

On Saturday at Delaware Park, Creative Thinking will aim for her first graded score in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial, a 1 3/8-mile turf marathon for fillies and mares.

The $200,000 Dick is one of three stakes on the Delaware Oaks undercard. The $75,000 Cape Henlopen will be run at 1 1/2 miles on grass and the $75,000 Dashing Beauty is a six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares, which is part of the MATCH Series.

Creative Thinking was close up throughout to win a first-level allowance over soft Keeneland turf in her first start at a longer distance. In her most recent race, the $70,000 Keertana at Churchill Downs, she settled off the pace, then ran away from the field to win by five lengths.

Saturday’s lineup includes Esquisse and Palinodie and appears tougher than the Keertana. Those French imports are yet to win in the United States, however, and Creative Thinking’s streak jumps off the page.

Creative Thinking is owned by Brereton Jones, who stands her sire, Creative Cause, at his Airdrie Stud. She will be ridden by Adam Beschizza, who is from England and had a breakout meet at Fair Grounds, missing the riding title by a single winner.

Esquisse comes out of an odd running of the Grade 2 New York at Belmont Park, where a horse ran off to a long early lead and Esquisse chased her in second. Both horses tired in the final furlong of the 1 1/4-mile race.

In her first two U.S. starts, Esquisse finished third and then second in optional-claiming company at Keeneland and Belmont. She is trained by Graham Motion and owned by the Wertheimer brothers, and we may not yet have seen her best race.

Palinodie is 0 for 7 in the U.S., all for Christophe Clement, but comes off two solid efforts and could be favored here. She ended up on the lead in a paceless edition of the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay at Belmont in early May and finished fourth, beaten a length. Prior to that she was third in the Grade 3 The Very One at Gulfstream Park.

Postulation, Graham eye repeat

Postulation will be shooting for a second win in the Cape Henlopen, a race his trainer Eddie Graham has single handedly put on the map.

Graham won the 2014 Cape Henlopen with the now-retired Hardest Core and came back to win the Arlington Million with him next time out. Last year, Postulation parlayed a six-length Cape Henlopen victory into a Grade 3 American St. Leger win at Arlington.

Postulation ended up on the lead of the two-mile Belmont Gold Cup last time out and tired to finish eighth, but a repeat of either of his first two starts of the year will make him tough Saturday.

O Dionysus has raced very well since Gary Capuano stretched him out in distance and moved him to the turf. He enters this race off an eye-catching optional-claiming win at Delaware. This will be his first race beyond 1 1/16 miles.

Dashing Beauty wide open

The Dashing Beauty is the third of five legs of the filly and mare dirt-sprint division of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships. Jessica Krupnick, Liz’s Cable Girl, and Day By Day finished second, third, and fourth in the second races of the series, the Regret at Monmouth Park, and a win in the Dashing Beauty would put any of them atop the division.

A competitive field of 10 has been entered in the Dashing Beauty. Possibly the horse to beat is Tequilita, who will shorten up in distance after attempting to stretch out in the 1 1/8-mile Obeah at Delaware.

Tequilita ran an unusual race in the Obeah. She raced in a stalking position early, dropped back on the far turn as if she were finished, then came on again in the stretch. Her previous race, a closing third in the Grade 2 Ruffian at Belmont Park, was quite good.

Bonita Bianca raced well in the New York-bred stakes ranks last year. She won an open first-level optional-claiming sprint at Monmouth Park while making her first start in six months and her debut for trainer Jason Servis. She looks well spotted here.

Other contenders include Lake Ponchatrain, who has won three of her last four, all for Charles Town-based Ernest Haynes, as well as Cairenn and Absatootly.