Sheer Drama will stretch out in Delaware Handicap

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer David Fawkes said he was never tempted to turn Sheer Drama back to six furlongs for Sunday’s Grade 2 Princess Rooney at Gulfstream Park. Instead, he’ll stretch his Grade 2 winner out to 1 1/4 miles for the Grade 1 Delaware Handicap on July 18. Sheer Drama, second as the favorite behind Frivolous in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap at Churchill Downs on June 13, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.41, her final half in 47.20, here Thursday.

“The work today was excellent; she went off slow and really picked it up at the end,” said Fawkes. “She’ll have one more work here next Thursday before leaving for Delaware. I was really pleased with her last race, even though she got beat. The winner will throw a big race like that from time to time, and the way the track played that night, if you weren’t in front at the top of the stretch, you just weren’t winning.”

◗ The local racing community lost a longtime friend with the death last month of Manny Marrero, a jockey agent on the south Florida circuit since 1982. Marrero’s claim to fame came in the late 1980s, when he had three different clients win riding titles consecutively at Gulfstream Park: Julio Pezua, Jorge Chavez, and Douglas Valiente. He’s survived by his wife of 32 years, Kathy Marrero, and six children.