Live Oak Plantation’s Onepointhreekarats scored a gate-to-wire victory in the $50,000 Winter Melody Stakes at Delaware Park today. 

With Jeremy Rose aboard, the 5-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’ Oro cut early fractions of :48.08 for the half mile and 1:11.47 for the three-quarters mile before completing the mile and a sixteenth in 1:43.58 over a fast main track.  The Florida-bred conditioned by H. Graham Motion returned $9.00 as third choice in the field of six.  Bryan’s Jewel, with Alex Cintron, finished second 5-lengths in front of Ciguaraya, with Abel Castellano, Jr., in third.  The 7-to-5 favorite, Twice the Lady, with Stewart Elliott, finished sixth.

“She was perfect today,” said winning rider Jeremy Rose.  “The last couple of times I rode her there were a couple of fast horses in the races and I took her back.  Right now, I do not think she likes that.  She likes being out there either close or on the outside and today we did that.  I got a nice lead and she really responded.”

She raised her career record to five wins from 13 starts with earnings of $204,989.  She is a perfect two-for-two at Delaware Park.  Her next race could be the mile and an eighth $100,000 Grade III Obeah Stakes at Delaware Park on June 15.  The Obeah Stakes is the local prep for the mile and a quarter $750,000 Grade I Delaware Handicap on July 20.

The winners of both divisions of the Our Mims Stakes on Saturday will be nominated to the $75,000 Go For Wand Stakes to be run on June 15.  The mile-and-70-yard race is the local prep for the mile-and-a-sixteenth Grade II Delaware Oaks on July 13.

Porter Racing Stable’s Missy Rules posted a 3 ½-length triumph in the first division.  With Jose Caraballo aboard, the daughter of Peace Rules covered the mile in 1:38.88.  The Florida-bred conditioned by Delaware Park-based Randy Nunley has a career record of four wins, two seconds and a third from 10 starts, with earnings of $129,970.  She has a Delaware Park record of three wins from four starts.  Her only Delaware Park defeat was in the White Clay Stakes last year.

Before her victory in the Our Mims, Missy Rules had never been farther than six and a half furlongs.

“There were not really any races coming up for her, and we were not sure if she could get a mile, but about a month before the race we decided to see if we could get her stretched out and relaxed,” said Nunley.  “So we had been shooting for the Our Mims for the last month.  Her last breeze, before the race, was well enough that we decided to give it a shot.  We were not sure about her stretching out, but she made the lead and relaxed a little bit and that made all the difference.”

Nunley will nominate Missy Rules to the Go For Wand, but she must really impress him to consider running her.

“She came out of the race good,” Nunley said.  “She is happy and eating up good, so everything looks pretty good.  We will obviously consider that race, but it might be a little of a stretch.  A mile-and-a-sixteenth will be tougher for her and the competition will be tougher, so she will have to train really well between and now and then to make us lean in that direction.”

James Glover’s Ile St. Molly posted a 3/4-length victory in the second division.  With Joshua Navarro aboard, the daughter of Ile St. Louis covered the mile in 1:39.19.  The Arkansas-bred conditioned by Delaware Park-based Kenny Smith has a career record of three wins, all stakes, from six starts, with earnings of $104,370. 

Before her victory in the Our Mims, Ile St. Molly had never been farther than seven furlongs.

“She came back really good,” said Smith.  “She is a filly that is really starting to mature right now.  I have not really decided where her next spot will be.  I have to talk Mr. Glover, so we can come up with a decision.  But we are definitely going to nominate her for the Go For Wand, and it will be one of our options.  She does nothing but put in good races after good races, so I am real proud of her.”

Two days into the 2013 season at Delaware Park, trainer Kenny Smith is off to fast a start.  The 59-year-old native of Ada, Oklahoma, has saddled six horses with four wins, including a victory in the second division of the Our Mims Stakes on opening day.  The average payoff on his winners is $6.80.

“It has been delightful,” said Smith.  “Obviously, the horses came in ready to run, and we got some good spots for them to run in.  Needless to say, it will eventually slow down, but hopefully not anytime soon.”

Last year, he finished eleventh in standings with a record of 15 winners from 125 starters in his first full season at Delaware Park.  Over the winter, he stabled at Oaklawn Park, where he finished fourth in standings with a record of 17 winners from 102 starters.

“We came here last year, so we had a better idea coming into this season,” he said.  “We worked on the spots where we needed to beef up.  Last year, we may have come in a little flat footed, and we still had a really good meet.  This year, we were just a little better prepared.  We have not really even started running our 2-year-olds yet this year, so it should really get hot then.”

James Glover’s Ile St. Marie recorded her third career stake victory by posting a victory in the second division of the $50,125 Our Mims Stakes on opening day at Delaware Park today. 

With Joshua Navarro aboard, the 3-year-old daughter of Ile St. Louis won by ¾-lengths in front running fashion.  Disco Barbie, with Frankie Pennington, finished second.  It was another 3 ½-lengths further back to Off My Cloud, with Daniel Centeno, in third.  The 2-to-1 favorite in the field of six Giant Cats Eye, with Ryan Curtalo, finished fifth after stumbling at the start.

Ile St. Marie cut early fractions of: 48.10 for half mile and 1:12.04 for three-quarters mile before completing the mile in 1:37.19 over a fast main track.

The Arkansas-bred trained by Kenny Smith raised her career mark to three wins from six starts with earnings of $104,370.

Porter Racing Stable’s Missy Rules notched an upset victory in the first division of the $54,625 Our Mims Stakes on opening day at Delaware Park today. 

The 3-year-old daughter of Peace Rules rewarded her backers with a $17.80 return on a $2 win investment.  With Jose Caraballo aboard, the Florida-bred conditioned by Delaware Park-based Randy Nunley, posted a 3 ½-length front running score.  Doubled, with Abel Castellano Jr., finished second a head in front of Broomsage, with Ryan Curatolo, in third.  The 4-to-5 favorite in the field of six, My Sonata, with Jose Flores, finished fifth.

Missy Rules covered the mile in 1:38.88 over a fast main track.  The Our Mims was her first career stake victory.  She raised her career record to four wins from ten starts with earnings of $129,970.  This was the third victory from four starts for her at Delaware Park.  

After posting solid numbers at Oaklawn Park this winter, trainer McLean Robertson has set his sights on Delaware Park, which will open for the 76^th season of live racing on May 18. 

“We are going to have about 55 horses at Delaware Park,” said Robertson, speaking under shed row at Delaware Park.  “We are going to have a lot of 2-year-olds this season.  A lot of my horses got claimed here last year, so I got a lot of 2-year-olds for this season.  I have about fifty 2-year-olds, so I will split them evenly between my three divisions at Arlington, Canterbury and here.  I want nice young horses.  Everyone wants a nice 2-year-old that can run, so we are hoping we can come up with a few that can really run.”

Robertson is coming off a strong Oaklawn Park meet in which he finished second with a record of 28 winners from 122 starters.  Last year, the 39-year-old native of Schuyler, Nebraska, finished third in the standings in his fourth season at Delaware Park with a record of 31 winners from 142 starters.

“This is a great place to train, so I would like to have more 2-year-olds here,” said Robertson.  “We will just see how it goes.  But, I will have some pretty nice older horses here as well.  A couple of them are Back Forty, Win Willy and Bryan’s Jewel.  They are all nice horses that really like Delaware Park.  They run well here and train good over the surface, so they were all brought back.  They have been in training for a while this season, but I would like to run them a time or two here and see how it goes.  Bryan’s Jewel was fifth in the Apple Blossom last time.  She had a troubled trip and probably could have been second or third.”

Bryan’s Jewel, a 5-year-old daughter of Rockport Harbor, has a career record of six wins, four seconds and four thirds from 20 starts, with earnings of $288,938.  The Kentucky-bred has a Delaware Park record of four wins, three seconds and four thirds from 12 starts, with earnings of $190,217. 

Back Forty, a 5-year-old gelded son of Speightstown, has a record of three wins and two seconds from five starts, with earnings of $108,000.  In his only start last year, the Kentucky-bred broke his maiden by  four lengths at Delaware Park in his career debut.  In his most recent, he posted a 6 ¼-length triumph in a six-furlong allowance at Oaklawn Park on April 7.

Win Willy, a 7-year-old son of Monarchos, has a record of 10 wins, five seconds and six thirds from 31 starts, with earnings of $985,437.  The Kentucky-bred has a Delaware Park record of four wins, two seconds and a third from seven starts.  He has three career Delaware Park stake victories, including the Governor’s Day Stakes last year.

Robertson comes back to Delaware Park for a simple reason – his horses like it here.

“The horses really do good here,” Robertson said.  “They eat well here and the track has a nice relaxed atmosphere.  The dirt track was in great shape last year, there is a turf gallop and there is grass to graze on.  It is a pretty horse friendly track – probably the one of the most horse friendly tracks in the country.” 

Others making preparations for Delaware Park include Juan Vazquez, Jamie Ness, Tim Ritchey, Scott Lake, Michael Pino, Randy Nunley, Julio Cartagena, Sam Cronk, H. Graham Motion, Kenny Smith and Jonathan Sheppard.

Live racing will be held on Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Live racing will not be held on the first Thursday of the meet on May 23.  Daily first race post time is set for 1:15 p.m.  Admission and general parking are free.  Delaware Park’s premier races, the Grade II Delaware Oaks and the Grade I Delaware Handicap, will be on July 13 and July 20, respectively. 

When the 3-year-olds set foot on the track and “My Old Kentucky Home” is played at Churchill Downs this Saturday, a part of Delaware will be there.  Jennifer Patterson, a 32-year-old Wilmington, Delaware native, is the regular exercise rider for one of the top Derby contenders, Orb. 

The Kentucky-bred owned and bred by Stuart Janney III and Phipps Stable was stamped as a favorite with his 2 ¾-length victory in the Grade I Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park on March 30.  In his two other starts in 2013, the Kentucky-bred conditioned by Shug McGaughey III posted a half-length victory in the Grade II Fountain of Youth on February 23 and a length triumph in a mile-and-an-eighth allowance on January 26.  Last year, in his fourth and final start as a 2-year-old, he broke his maiden by two lengths at Aqueduct on November 24.

“He is special and you can tell,” said Jennifer Patterson from Orb’s barn at Churchill Downs.  “I am pretty lucky because I get on some nice horses in the morning working for (Shug) McGaughey, but you can tell Orb is different.  I started riding him more this winter.  He started at Gulfstream and he was not doing well there, so they moved him to Payson Park Training Center and he really flourished there.  The change in him was huge.  He has just gotten better and better, and I cannot believe how much better he has gotten since he shipped to Churchill.”

Patterson, who started riding horses at the age of 3 and got her first pony as hand-me-down from her older sister before she was born, never really thought she would eventually be working with horses as a profession.

“While I was in college, I thought I would have been doing something else,” said Patterson, whose father Duncan Patterson is the current Chairman of the Delaware Racing Commission.  “It is not something I thought I would be doing, but the job I have here with Shug (McGaughey) is pretty special.  It is pretty special to be able to work for him and the horses we get to work with.  I am actually pretty spoiled.  I love waking up in the morning and coming to a job like this, working with these kind of horses and the good people I get to work with.  It is a lot of fun.  I have learned a lot from Shug.  He is a very good guy who takes very good care of his help.  He is very easy to work for and to work with.  I do not feel like I work for him as much as I feel like I work with him, which is really nice.”

McGaughey has never won the Kentucky Derby, but he has won nearly every other major race.  The 62-year-old native of Lexington, Kentucky, came close to winning the Kentucky Derby in 1989 when Easy Goer finished second to Sunday Silence.  Although Patterson works with some of the nicest thoroughbreds in the county, she never really gave serious consideration to working with a Kentucky Derby horse.

“I never pictured this and this is very special,” she said.  “The Phipps’ or the Janney’s are not people who will run a horse in the Derby just to have a horse in the Derby.  The horse has to take them to the Derby.  That is exactly what Orb has done and it was not expected at all.  We were not expecting it with this horse and because of that; it has been even more fun.  It has been fun to watch him grow.  From the point when he broke his maiden to now, you would never say it is the same horse.” 

The 76^th season of live racing at Delaware Park will start on May 18.  Live racing will be held on Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Live racing will not be held on the first Thursday of the meet on May 23.  Daily first race post time is set for 1:15 p.m.  Admission and general parking are free.  Delaware Park’s premier races, the Grade II Delaware Oaks and the Grade I Delaware Handicap, will be on July 13 and July 20, respectively. 

Trainer Michael Pino will have his troops ready for the beginning of the Delaware Park meet on May 18.  When the stable area opened in Stanton on April 1, the Pino barn was one of the first to set up shop.  Since then, horses wearing the distinctive “MVP” saddlecloths have been prominent on the track during morning training hours.  

“We are going to have about 30 horses at Delaware and another 20 at Parx,” said Pino.  “I claimed some horses at Gulfstream this winter, so I have some horses that I think will fit here.  I brought two babies with me, and I got about another 10 babies I am planning to bring in.  Last year, we started out with a bunch of babies, and it really worked out.  If we can combine the success we had with the babies last year with the prospects of the horses we claimed this winter, we should have a pretty good meet.”

Last year, Pino had a record of 10 wins, five seconds, and five thirds from 35 starters at Delaware Park, but he was particularly effective in the baby division.  The 50-year-old Delaware native scored at a rate of 44% with a record of eight wins, including a stakes victory, from 18 starts with 2-year-olds.  Consequently, his regular Delaware Park rider Jose Caraballo also enjoyed phenomenal success with 2-year-olds.  In 2012, the 47-year-old native of Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, finished fourth with a record of 66 wins from 290 mounts in the overall jockey standings at Delaware Park.  Caraballo, who rode Barbaro to his maiden victory as a 2-year-old in his career debut at Delaware Park in 2005, won at a rate of 32% with a record of 19 wins from 60 mounts in the baby division.

As a lifelong resident of the area, Pino always looks forward to the start of a fresh season of live racing at Delaware Park.

“I love Delaware,” said Pino, whose older brother Mario was the leading rider at Delaware Park in 1979 and 1980.  “It is home.  When we were kids we used to live right across the street from the track.  I really look forward to coming here for each season.  It is a great place.  I have been all around the country, and this is right at the top.”

Others making preparations for Delaware Park include Jamie Ness, Juan Vazquez, Tim Ritchey, Scott Lake, McLean Robertson, Randy Nunley, Julio Cartagena, Sam Cronk, H. Graham Motion, Kenny Smith and Jonathan Sheppard.

Live racing will be held on Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Live racing will not be held on the first Thursday of the meet on May 23.  Daily first race post time is set for 1:15 p.m.  Admission and general parking are free.  Delaware Park’s premier races, the Grade II Delaware Oaks and the Grade I Delaware Handicap, will be on July 13 and July 20, respectively. 

With the May 18 start of the 76^th season of live racing at Delaware Park quickly approaching, horses have begun to arrive at the track.  One of the very first outfits to arrive was one of the most powerful for the past decade at Delaware Park, that of Juan Vazquez. 

After being the leading trainer at Delaware Park in 2010 and 2011, the 38-year-old native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, finished second in the standings last year to national powerhouse Jamie Ness, who conditions for the Midwest Thoroughbreds, the leading owner by wins in North America every year since 2010.

Vazquez, who will have approximately 60 horses at Delaware Park, knows he will need a very solid meet with a little luck in order to regain the leading trainer at Delaware Park crown, but he is optimistic he will make it a race.  

“This is a different year, and we have different horses, so we will see,” said Vazquez.  “I have been coming to Delaware Park since 2001.  This is my house, so I certainly want to do well.  I like it here.  The people really treat me well here.  We are coming off a strong showing in Maryland at Laurel, so I am happy.  I just hope the success will carry into Delaware.  We will see.”

Last year, Vazquez finished second in the standings with a record of 46 winners from 167 starters.

Others making preparations for Delaware Park include Jamie Ness, Tim Ritchey, Scott Lake, McLean Robertson, Michael Pino, Randy Nunley, Julio Cartagena, Sam Cronk, H. Graham Motion, Kenny Smith and Jonathan Sheppard.

Live racing will be held on Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Live racing will not be held on the first Thursday of the meet on May 23.  Daily first race post time is set for 1:15 p.m.  Admission and general parking are free.  Delaware Park’s premier races, the Grade II Delaware Oaks and the Grade I Delaware Handicap, will be on July 13 and July 20, respectively. 

With the start of a fresh season a little less than a month away, many top outfits have been arriving at a steady rate at Delaware Park.  Horses from the top outfit in North America by wins started to arrive early last week in preparation for the May 18 opening of live racing at the Stanton-oval.  Jamie Ness, the defending leading trainer at Delaware Park and the leading trainer in North America by wins in 2012, will have approximately 60 horses stabled in Delaware.  Most of those are owned by Midwest Thoroughbreds, the defending three-time leading owner at Delaware Park and the leading owner in North America by both wins and earnings in 2012.

Ness has become accustomed to playing the role of being the leading man.

“It is always good to be on top, but it is harder to stay there because everyone is gunning for you,” said Ness.  “It is not a goal.  It is not a ‘must do’ to be leading trainer at a meet, but it sure is nice to be there.  If we are or if we are in the race towards the close of the meet, that usually means you have had a successful meet.  We are expecting a good solid meet at Delaware Park.  We are coming into the meet with some fresh horses, and we feel ready, so we should be fine.”

The 36-year-old native of Heron, South Dakota, has been pleased with his year thus far and he looks forward to carrying that success into Delaware.

“We were consistent - kind of the same as we have always been,” said Ness, who has been the leading trainer at Tampa Bay Downs for the past seven seasons.  “We had solid meets at Gulfstream, Oaklawn, Tampa and New York, so we were spread out pretty good, but the main thing is we remained consistent with consistently high numbers all winter.”

Others making preparations for Delaware Park include Juan Vazquez, Tim Ritchey, Scott Lake, McLean Robertson, Michael Pino, Randy Nunley, Julio Cartagena, Sam Cronk, H. Graham Motion, Kenny Smith and Jonathan Sheppard.

Live racing will be held on Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  Live racing will not be held on the first Thursday of the meet on May 23.  Daily first race post time is set for 1:15 p.m.  Admission and general parking are free.  Delaware Park’s premier races, the Grade II Delaware Oaks and the Grade I Delaware Handicap, will be on July 13 and July 20, respectively.