Delaware Park feature difficult to decipher

A horse who finished second behind a track-record performer in a recent Colonial Downs stakes, a former Grade 1 winner who began 2012 running for a $10,000 claiming tag, and an old-timer whose 4-for-5 campaign in 2011 included back-to-back stakes victories in Ohio add some spice to Monday’s feature race at Delaware Park.

Broad Rule, Homeboykris, and Sneak a Cold Treat are among the contenders in a field of nine older sprinters set to go six furlongs in Monday’s eighth race, an allowance for horses that have not won a race in the past six months or those entered for an optional $35,000 claiming tag.

The Maryland-based Broad Rule finally gets away from Guam Typhoon, who beat him in his last two starts, including the July 4 Chesapeake in which Guam Typhoon set a Colonial Downs main track record by running six furlongs in 1:07.86. Broad Rule was 2 3/4 lengths behind Guam Typhoon in that race and should be set for a peak performance Monday while making the third start of his current form cycle.

Homeboykris was good enough to win the Grade 1 Champagne as a 2-year-old in 2009, but came to Julio Cartagena’s barn when he was claimed for $10,000 at Gulfstream Park in January. Homeboykris, coupled with 16-time winner It’s Never to Late, has been sharp lately, winning a $20,000 starter allowance with a 97 Beyer Speed Figure and a $30,000 claimer in his Delaware debut June 13. He and his stablemate are two of the three horses entered for a tag Monday.

As a 6-year-old in 2011, Sneak a Cold Treat closed out his five-race campaign by winning back-to-back restricted stakes at Thistledown. In his lone start this year, Sneak a Cold Treat was claimed out of a second-place finish for $30,000 on June 13. He was taken from Jamie Ness, who leads the Delaware training standings. In contrast to Ness’s 43 percent success rate at Delaware, horses claimed away from him have won at just a 16 percent rate first time for new barns the past two seasons.

Ness will send out My Charming Clyde, who posted consistent Beyers between 88 and 95 in four of his last five starts before getting a freshening following a fourth-place finish May 24. He beat similar competition to what he faces Monday two starts ago at Pimlico.