Del Mar Show right ticket to Sweepstakes

SALEM, N.H. - Graded stakes winners Del Mar Show and Dr. Kashnikow square off in Saturday's $200,000 Grade 3 New Hampshire Sweepstakes at Rockingham Park.

The winner of the Grade 3 Ft. Lauderdale Handicap at Gulfstream Park this past winter, Del Mar Show will be a heavy favorite over eight rivals in the 23rd running of the 1 1/8-mile turf race.

Trained by Bill Mott and to be ridden by Jerry Bailey, Del Mar Show comes off a second to Strut the Stage in the Grade 2 Dixie Handicap on Preakness Day at Pimlico. Mott and Del Mar Show's owner, the Allen Paulson Living Trust, won the New Hampshire Sweepstakes with Hap last year.

Dr. Kashnikow won the Grade 2 Fourstardave Handicap last summer at Saratoga and the Grade 3 River City Handicap at Churchill Downs last November. Mark Johnson rides for trainer John Fisher, who won the Sweepstakes with Brave Note in 1996.

Rochester, who won the Sycamore Breeders' Cup at Keeneland last fall, will be ridden in the Sweepstakes by Clyde Martin. He is trained by Jonathan Sheppard.

Trainer John Kimmel sends Full Flow in search of his first stakes victory. Mus-If has won four straight, including two stakes at Pimlico.