Fall Highweight field swells after Dave's Friend canceled

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The field for Friday’s $150,000 Fall Highweight Stakes ballooned to nine after a couple of horses who were entered in a since-canceled Laurel stakes race showed up in the entry box.

Dean Delivers and Witty were both entered in the Fall Highweight after Laurel canceled its weekend cards - including Saturday’s $100,000 Dave’s Friend - after complaints arose over Laurel’s main track. Additionally, Laurel officials made the decision not to bring the Dave’s Friend back at a later date.

Ned Allard, the trainer of Dean Delivers, said he was between both races and added he doesn’t mind making a return trip to New York, where Dean Delivers finished third in the Grade 3 Vosburgh going seven furlongs on Sept. 28.

“After he finished third in the Vosburgh, I gave him a little break,” Allard said. “He’s training super, he’s doing well, he always shows up and he always gives us his best effort.”

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Prior to the third to Mufasa in the Vosburgh, Dean Delivers had won four consecutive ungraded stakes, including the Frank De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel in July and the Rumson at Monmouth in September. Three of those four wins came at the Fall Highweight distance of six furlongs.

“I think six furlongs is his best distance, any farther than six you’re testing his ability,” Allard said.

Meanwhile, Witty was entered in the Dave’s Friend, Wednesday’s $75,000 Let’s Give Thanks Stakes at Parx Racing, and the Fall Highweight. As of Sunday, trainer and part-owner Elizabeth Merryman said she wasn’t sure in which race Witty would run.

Witty is coming off an allowance win at Laurel on Nov. 2, his return to dirt after six consecutive turf starts.

Merryman said that Witty is the type of horse “that you have to keep changing it up with him. He’s a pretty smart horse. The only thing he hates is hard turf.”

Merryman had equipped Witty with blinkers for his return to dirt. Merryman explained that several years ago Witty nearly lost an eye, and he doesn’t like getting dirt in his face.

“Switching back to dirt, it gives him a little more protection,” Merryman said.

Giant Mischief, trained by Brad Cox, was entered in both the Fall Highweight and Thursday’s $225,000 Thanksgiving Classic at Fair Grounds. Cox said Sunday that Giant Mischief is likely to run in the Fall Highweight. He prefers the outside draw in that race to the rail draw in a bulky 11-horse field in New Orleans.

Cox also has Top Gunner, winner of the Parx Dirt Mile, in the Fall Highweight. Others entered include Super Chow, Baby Yoda, Runninsonofagun, Twenty Four Mamba, and Downtownchalybrown.

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