Empress Maker connects at 22-1 in George Rosenberger

Heavy favorites dominated the early stakes portion of Saturday’s Owners Day program at Delaware Park, with three winners paying between $2.10 and $2.80. But the tote board exploded with big numbers in the $75,000 George Rosenberger Memorial Stakes.

Empress Maker, by far the higher priced of an uncoupled entry for trainer Graham Motion, snapped a long losing streak at 22-1 in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for fillies and mares.

Empress Maker ($46.40), winless in eight starts since clearing her maiden condition at Keeneland last October, rallied from sixth in the final furlong and outfinished 10-1 outsider Cuppy Cake by a neck under first-time rider Scott Spieth. Kawfee Fa Marfa, the 3-1 second choice, nosed out 8-1 shot Comedia for third, a neck behind the runner-up. The winning time on "good" turf was 1:44.72.

The $2 exacta returned $1,000.40 and the $2 superfecta paid $15,613.60.

Motion’s other horse, the 3-year-old Rachel Wall, was off fifth as the 5-2 favorite. She was coming off a nose defeat in her turf debut in the Little Silver at Monmouth Park in late July, a race that produced four next-out winners.

The 12-race Owners Day card, with total purses of $603,500, included seven stakes, four for Delaware-bred or Delaware-certified Thoroughbreds, two restricted to horses that have started in non-stakes at Delaware this year, and a Grade 1 race for Arabians.

In the other $75,000 stakes for Thoroughbreds:

Spieth collected his second stakes win in back-to-back races, guiding Ain't Got Time ($6.20) to an easy victory in the Governor's Day at a mile and 70 yards. The Tim Ritchey-trained Ain't Got Time is now 4 for 5 at Delaware.

Galiana ($2.40) captured the Tax Free Shopping Distaff for the third straight year, improving her record at Delaware to 9 for 10 lifetime, cruising by 5 3/4 lengths under Carol Cedeno in the six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares.

Jake N Elwood ($2.10) romped to his second straight win since returning from a 17-month layoff, scoring by 7 1/2 lengths under J.D. Acosta in the six-furlong New Castle.

Lookout Sister ($2.80), returning to Delaware after a fifth-place finish in the Grade 2 Adirondack at Saratoga, scored by 1 3/4 lengths under Alex Cintron in the 5 1/2-furlong Small Wonder for 2-year-old fillies.

Onepointtwentyone ($12.40), back on the main track after a one-race experiment on turf, scored by eight lengths under Brian Pedroza in the 5 1/2-furlong First State Dash for 2-year-olds.

In the $50,000 Delaware Park Classic Handicap, a Grade 1 stakes for Arabians going 1 1/4 miles, the 11-year-old So Big Is Better ($16.20) registered his first graded victory since November 2013 under jockey Robert Paz.