Delaware Park: Mr Hall's Opus finds softer spot in Polly's Jet Stakes

Mr Hall’s Opus, who picked up small checks in the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks and the $400,000 Charles Town Oaks in her two most recent starts, has landed in a softer spot Saturday in pursuit of her first stakes victory. Based at Monmouth Park with trainer Kelly Breen, Mr Hall’s Opus heads a lineup of eight 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the main track in the $50,000 Polly’s Jet Stakes at Delaware Park.

Mr Hall’s Opus will be coming back just two weeks after rallying to finish third over a sloppy track in the seven-furlong Charles Town Oaks. Breen shows a 4-for-10 record (40 percent), with a profitable $2.50 return on investment, with horses switching from sprints to routes back in 15 days or fewer.

Breen also has been highly successful shipping to Delaware this season, winning with 6 of 14 starters (43 percent).

Lea’s Exchange and Hedonemewrongsong both are difficult to gauge. Both are either switching surfaces or changing distance.

Lea’s Exchange, based at Suffolk Downs, stretches out after winning back-to-back six-furlong sprints by a combined margin of 11 1/2 lengths. The last time she raced two turns on dirt, Lea’s Exchange was beaten 17 1/2 lengths in a $25,000 claimer.

Hedonemewrongsong has been entered for turf in all six of her previous starts. She exits a win going a mile on grass at Penn National. In her only start on dirt, Hedonemewrongsong handled a wet-fast surface at Delaware to win a first-level allowance in June.

New York shipper Majestic Marquet has won three of her last five starts. She returns to stakes company following a win over first-level optional $22,000 claimers at Monmouth Park on Sept. 1. Her trainer, Rudy Rodriguez, is just 1 for 13 with female route horses coming back in 31 to 60 days following a win.

◗ The $50,000 Delaware Park Arabian Classic Handicap, a Grade 1 event at 1 1/4 miles, could produce starters for the first-ever race for Arabians at next month’s Breeders’ Cup. A Grade 1 race for Arabians, the $150,000 President of the United Arab Emirates Cup, will be part of the Breeders’ Cup card at Santa Anita on Nov. 1.

The seven-horse field for Delaware’s ninth race includes Grilla, the runner-up in last year’s President of the UAE Cup at Pimlico and the winner of the same event when it was contested on Polytrack at Keeneland in 2010. His key rival might be the 9-year-old So Big Is Better, who has put together a three-race winning streak consisting of a Grade 3 event at Arapahoe Park, a seven-furlong sprint at Ferndale, and a stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Barretts at Fairplex.

◗ Delishess, who dominated fellow 4-year-old fillies in a Grade 2 race at Delaware, and Dc Willeys Song, the runner-up in a Grade 3 stakes last out at Arapahoe, are among seven fillies and mares in the $40,000 Buzz Brauninger Arabian Distaff Handicap at 1 1/8 miles (race 8).