Elate vs. Unbridled Mo in Delaware Handicap

Bill Mott won back-to-back runnings of the $750,000 Delaware Handicap in 2012-2013 with three-time champion Royal Delta. Todd Pletcher is tied for the most Del Cap wins with four. On Saturday, they will send out the Grade 1 winners Elate and Unbridled Mo in the 1 1/4-mile race for fillies and mares.

Nine were entered in the 81st Delaware Handicap, but trainer Wayne Catalano said he will not send Farrell from Kentucky. Her defection leaves the longshots Proper Discretion and Nikki My Darling as possible pacesetters. Both are owned by Ron Paolucci and trained by Anthony Quartarolo, who will have an additional starter in late-running Fuhriously Kissed, who will add blinkers.

The Del Cap lineup also includes Grade 2 La Canada winner Mopotism, who finished third for Doug O’Neill last out in the Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs; Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks winner Teresa Z, whom Anthony Margotta Jr. shipped in to win the Obeah, the local Del Cap prep; and Obeah third-place finisher Sneaky Betty, who is trained by Claudio Gonzalez, who through Wednesday was 8 for 16 at the meet.

The Del Cap has been downgraded to a Grade 2 after being a Grade 1 the past five years. The Saturday undercard includes the Grade 3, $200,000 Kent; the $75,000 Hockessin (Ho-Kess-In), which is part of the MATCH Series; and the $50,000 Carl Hanford Memorial.

The Kent Stakes and Delaware Handicap will be part of a cross-country pick four with races 8 and 9 from Belmont Park.

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Unbridled Mo is the 120-pound Delaware Handicap highweight for Pletcher and will concede from three to eight pounds to the opposition. Elate, who will carry 117 while making her 4-year-old debut for Mott, may go favored.

“The race has been good to us over the years and we’re hoping Unbridled Mo takes to the surface,” Pletcher said. “We’ve always thought 1 1/4 miles is what she wants, but it’s not going to be easy to give three pounds to a filly like Elate, even coming off a layoff.”

Unbridled Mo has made three starts since returning from a 10-month layoff in February. She finished fourth in the Grade 3 Royal Delta, a mile race at Gulfstream Park; upset Unique Bella, who broke poorly and was rank in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park; then was third to Abel Tasman in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park.

Unbridled Mo is 7 for 8 in two-turn races such as the Apple Blossom and Del Cap and 0 for 3 in one-turn races such as the Phipps and Royal Delta.

“She’s definitely better around two turns,” Pletcher said. “I don’t really have a definitive answer why, but I think two-turn races are generally a little farther, and that at one turn the horses don’t spread out as much.

“Coming off her win in the Apple Blossom, we didn’t think it made sense to drop her down in class, even though the Phipps was one turn. I think she ran okay and certainly didn’t embarrass herself.”

John Velazquez will be in to ride Unbridled Mo, who likes to settle before commencing her run.

Elate had an excellent 2017, defeating older runners in the Grade 1 Beldame, beating her contemporaries in the Grade 1 Alabama, and being voted a finalist for the 3-year-old filly Eclipse Award. She ended her campaign with a fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

“She just got better and better as the year went on,” Mott said. “Coming into the Breeders’ Cup, once we shipped her to California, she began to tail off. She just wasn’t as sharp as she was coming into the Alabama or Beldame.”

Mott worked Elate twice in February at Payson Park but “she developed a little splint and we had to stop on her for a while,” he said.

The Del Cap will be Elate’s first race in 253 days. Mott brought Yoshida back off a 210-day break to win the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day. The past five years, he is 18 for 87 (21 percent) with horses making their first start following layoffs of 200 to 300 days, going a mile or more.

“It’s not an easy thing to ask of her, but we need to get her started and this is the race we chose,” Mott said. “The number one thing in her case is the 1 1/4 miles seems to be what she wants to do – anywhere from nine furlongs to 10 furlongs.

“If things go well, there are a lot of big races ahead. We have big plans for her the second half of the year.”

Jose Ortiz keeps the mount on Elate, who figures to be in mid-pack but may have a bit more speed than Unbridled Mo. It’s possible she will take first run at the early leaders.

Teresa Z looked good rallying from fifth to win the Obeah and has the benefit of a recent race over the track.

Mopotism has made her last 13 starts in graded stakes.

Fuhriously Kissed was a $62,500 claim in March, and has since finished third in both the Apple Blossom and the Grade 3 DuPont Distaff at Pimlico.