OBS stakes proves right spot for Delightful Mary

Delightful Mary took a step toward more important engagements when rallying Monday to win the filly division of the $100,000 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Championship in Ocala, Fla. The race was one of four on the Day of Champions card, which has been held annually since 1990 for horses sold at OBS. All races are betless exhibitions for 3-year-olds, and all are run over a one-mile Safetrack synthetic surface.

The victory in a field of just four was not easily earned by Delightful Mary. Jockey Shaun Bridgmohan began urging Delightful Mary to go after front-running Be My Candy with about a quarter-mile left in the 1 1/16-mile race, and she was able to edge away in the final stages to win by three-quarters of a length. She finished in 1:45.80 for her third victory in five lifetime starts.

Delightful Mary, trained by Mark Casse, was making her first start since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last fall and is so well-regarded that she was listed as one of 23 separate interests in the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager last weekend, closing at 24-1.

Casse said he intends to run Delightful Mary next in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland on April 9.

Delightful Mary, by Limehouse, gives owner John Oxley a second chance at some of the major events in the division. Oxley also owns the highly regarded Dancinginherdreams, trained by John T. Ward Jr.

Snow Trial finished third in the Filly Championship, while Silent Moon, trained by Casse for Oxley, faded to last after being pressed on the lead most of the way by Be My Candy. Three other fillies were scratched.

In the card's three other races:

* Reprized Halo set a relaxed pace under Jose Alvarez and was able to turn back all comers in capturing the colt and gelding division of the $100,000 OBS Championship. Extended Family rallied well to be second, three-quarters of a length behind the winner, while Strike Oil was third in a field of eight.

Trained by Manny Azpurua, Reprized Halo won for the third time in 13 starts, with one of his previous wins having come in a division of the Florida Stallion Stakes at 46-1 last October at Calder. He finished the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:47.40.

* Megalith set a track record for six furlongs when rallying under Rajiv Maragh to win by 1 1/2 lengths in the colt and gelding division of the $50,000 OBS Sprint Stakes. Megalith, a Trippi gelding trained by Ron Spatz, finished in 1:09.60 for his third victory in eight career starts. He was exiting back-to-back two-turn turf stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Legacy Wildcat ran second, while front-running Dual Exhauzt faded to third in a field of six.

* One Star, with Elvis Trujillo riding for trainer Jimmy DiVito, overtook a pair of dueling leaders down the stretch to win by 1 3/4 lengths over Take Me to Zuber in the filly division of the $50,000 OBS Sprint. One Star, a gray daughter of Include, had won once in eight prior starts. She finished six furlongs in 1:11.

Four fillies were scratched, leaving a field of six.