Wednesday, April 17, 2019

American Pharoah's First U.S. Starters to Race April 17





The April 17 opening race at Aqueduct Racetrack will feature the debuts of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah 's first two North American starters: Lady Delaware and Tesorina.

American Pharoah, standing at Coolmore's Ashford Stud for a private fee, saw his first starter win on debut when the Aidan O'Brien-trained Monarch of Egypt won at Naas Racecourse in Ireland April 13. 

Oscar Performance
Both runners in Wednesday's $100,000 opener—the first 2-year-old maiden race at the Big A this year—are fillies conditioned by Wesley Ward, who is well regarded for developing young horses. The former rider said he has high hopes for the Triple Crown champion's two daughters. 

"I'm excited," Ward said. "Coolmore has always been good to me. American Pharoah was a tremendous racehorse and, hopefully, a tremendous sire as well. They both are very precocious in their breezes, and there was no reason to not move early with them. They both are very smart and show a lot of talent. To get to Royal Ascot with them would be fantastic—not just for me, but the team as well. American Pharoah was a great 2-year-old himself, and they both look like they'll run early."

Purchased for $100,000 from the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Hat Creek Racing's Lady Delaware is out of the Hennessy broodmare More Hennessy and is a half sister to grade 1 winner Hootenanny .

Hootenanny, a debut winner on the Keeneland synthetic, captured three of his five juvenile starts in 2014, including the Windsor Castle Stakes at Ascot and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T). 

"She seems a little quicker than Hootenanny," Ward said. "He didn't show too much affinity for the dirt. He ran once on the main track, and it was in the slop on Preakness Day at Pimlico. In his Keeneland debut, it was on the synthetic back when they had it. She has really shown that she likes the dirt, and she's quick coming out of the gate."

Lady Delaware will be piloted by Eric Cancel from post 7.





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