Delightful Mary preps for Breeders' Cup
E TOBICOKE, Ontario – The unbeaten Delightful Mary will try to punch her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup on Saturday at Woodbine in the $225,000 Mazarine Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile test for 2-year-old fillies.
Delightful Mary was a $500,000 2-year-old purchase by John Oxley. She won her six-furlong debut over a quality field Aug. 8, while getting a 75 Beyer Speed Figure. Five weeks later, she led throughout a mile and 70-yard allowance, scoring by eight lengths with a 64 Beyer.
Trainer Mark Casse said he became enamored with Delightful Mary at the OBS April sale in Florida.
“When we bought her, I thought that she had one of the most impressive breezes that I’d ever seen at a sale,” Casse recalled. “She’s a half-sister to good horse and she has just a wonderful temperament.”
Casse has h ad his sights set on the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Churchill with Delightful Mary.
“That’s been our plan all along,” Casse said. “That’s why I got the route race into her. With a big effort on Saturday, we hope to make it to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Casse also entered Idratherbeatthespa, who wound up fourth in her only start over seven furlongs in the restricted Muskoka Stakes.
“She had trained quite well, and being by Victory Gallop, we figured she’d want a little more ground,” Casse said. “She just walked out of the gate. After an eighth of a mile, she was six or seven lengths behind the next-to-last horse. She made a big wide rally and only got beat a nose to Bubbles to the Top, who just got beat in a stakes the other day.”
Wyomia should be among the favorites in the Grade 3 event, in her first start with Lasix.
Wyomia was fifth when she debuted in a maiden special on the grass in August. She subsequently graduated around two turns on the Polytrack by 5 1/4 lengths, earning a respectable 75 Beyer.
“First time out, she was just a little green,” trainer Danny Vella said. “She took it all in. When we ran her back at a mile and 70, she won easily.”
Wyomia is a half-sister to the Grade 1-winning turf expert Red Giant. Vella described her as a big, easy-going filly.
“She’s very European-looking,” he said. “She trains that way and she’s got a big stride. We kinda knew right from that start that she’d want to go long.”