Elate to return in Delaware Handicap

ELMONT, N.Y. – Elate, a multiple Grade 1 winner at 3, will make her 4-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $750,000 Delaware Handicap on July 14, trainer Bill Mott said Sunday.

Elate, who won the Grade 1 Alabama at 1 1/4 miles last summer, has not raced since finishing fourth as the favorite in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar.

Mott had to stop on Elate in mid-February due to a splint bone issue. Elate returned to the work tab on May 9 and has breezed eight times over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga, including a seven-furlong move in 1:26.45 last Saturday.

Acknowledging it’s a tall task to bring a horse back at 1 1/4 miles off an eight-month layoff, Mott said: “That’s kind of what she wants to do anyway. She’s pretty fit. We got a lot of miles in her. She’s had some good works. She’s coming along.”

Elate’s schedule will likely include the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga on Aug. 25, the Grade 1 Beldame at Belmont on Oct. 6, and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill on Nov. 3.