Life At Ten likely for Delaware Cap

ELMONT, N.Y. - While the racing world awaits with great anticipation the pronouncements from the connections of Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra about their next starts, plans appear a bit more firm for one of the less-heralded members of the distaff division.

Life At Ten, who ran her winning streak to five with a sharp victory in Saturday's Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park, is likely to make her next start in the $750,000 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park on July 17. The $250,000 Ruffian, a Grade 1 race at Saratoga on Aug. 1, is possible, trainer Todd Pletcher said, but at one-third the pot and with the Ruffian a very real possibility for Rachel Alexandra's next race, the DelCap appears more attractive.

Pletcher believes the 1 1/4 miles of the DelCap should suit Life At Ten, who won the Rare Treat at Aqueduct and the Grade 3 Sixty Sails at Hawthorne, both at 1 1/8 miles, before taking the Phipps at 1 1/16 miles. Life At Ten has won her races either from on or just off the lead.

"With her style, it'd be hard to call her one-paced as fast as she was going the other day," Pletcher said. "Given her size and scope and the way she handled a mile and an eighth, I think a mile and a quarter is within reach."

Pletcher said hopes have always been high for Life At Ten, but that she underperformed on the synthetic tracks in Southern California early in her career. After coming east, Life At Ten trained brilliantly over the dirt track at Saratoga but ran second in allowance races at seven furlongs, which is "short of her best distance," Pletcher said.

After a failed turf experiment, Life At Ten has won five straight on dirt.

Life At Ten, owned by Cynthia DeBartolo, earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 99 for her win in the Phipps.