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Dean Delivers streaks into G3 Vosburgh

by Keith McCalmont

Dean Delivers brings a four-race all-stakes win streak into Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Vosburgh, at Belmont at the Big A. The seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint to be contested at six furlongs on November 2 at Del Mar.

The Stonehedge Florida homebred, who has banked $787,660 in purse earnings, was campaigned through his first 21 career starts by Michael “Bo” Yates, winning five races topped by a score in 2023 Grade 3 Smile Sprint at Gulfstream Park.

Dean Delivers [post 4, Jaime Rodriguez], a 5-year-old Cajun Breeze gelding, is a perfect 4-for-4 since joining the barn of Ned Allard this spring.

"He was sent up to me from Florida after getting a little freshening. It was getting a little hot in Florida and he's really blossomed,” Allard said. “After he got here, the cooler weather really made him blossom out and feel good. He's just run super every time I've run him.

"You always hope as a trainer you can move them up a little bit, but I think Bo Yates did a wonderful job with this horse,” Allard added. “He was a good horse in Florida and up here he seems to be a little bit better.”

Dean Delivers launched his current streak for Allard with an eight-length romp in the six-furlong Listed Mr. Prospector in May over a sloppy and sealed track at Monmouth Park. He followed with a 2 1/2-length score in the six-furlong Alapocas Run in July at Delaware Park ahead of a narrow score in the Listed Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash sprinting six furlongs on July 28 at Laurel Park. There, he led at every point of call to garner a 98 Beyer Speed Figure after scoring by three-quarter lengths over next-out winner Five Dreams, who finished 1 1/4-lengths in front of next-out stakes winner Gordian Knot.

The ultra-consistent chestnut, who sports a 25-9-8-2 record, arrives from a half-length score in the five-furlong Rumson after exiting the inside post under returning rider Jaime Rodriguez on September 1 at Monmouth.

"I wasn't nuts about the post position last time and all the speed that was in there,” Allard said. “The race didn't come up the way I was hoping it might, but he still prevailed. He's a fighter. Five-eighths of a mile probably isn't his distance but he's a pretty quick horse.”

Allard has enjoyed recent success with Stonehedge homebreds by Cajun Breeze, having sent out Sunny Breeze to a game runner-up effort to Bentornato in Saturday's Grade 2 Gallant Bob at Parx.

"Sunny Breeze ran a monster race yesterday," said Allard of the effort which registered a 100 Beyer. "He was pressured all the way, and he dug in and gave it his best shot. I thought he ran super.

"I started with Stonehedge back in the very early 80s, so I've been training for them for over 40 years," Allard added. "They've been loyal patrons and bred some nice horses. It's been a good relationship."

Allard also noted the strong relationship between Dean Delivers and Rodriguez, who has been aboard for the last three outings and will be charged with engineering a successful stretch out in distance on Saturday.

"I think he'll handle it just fine. He's not a one-dimensional horse," Allard said. "He can run on the lead if there's no pace and he can run from a little off the pace. He's a very versatile horse and Jaime Rodriguez loves him. They seem to be a good team together.”

Dean Delivers has notched two wins at seven furlongs, including a score in the state-bred Big Drama last May at Gulfstream Park.

"He has a sprinting pedigree. He's a cool horse and lowkey," Allard said. "He goes out there and gives it everything he's got and when he's happy, he runs his tail off.

"He's done everything we've asked of him this year, so we thought we'd test him a little bit and see what we've got," added Allard.

Allard said Dean Delivers is coming into Saturday's test in good order after working a half-mile in 49.60 seconds Saturday over the Delaware Park dirt.

"That was a very nice breeze. He's capable of breezing a lot faster but they don't pay you in the morning for fast works," said Allard, with a laugh. "I like to leave a little on the plate."

Trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. has entered a pair of strong contenders in last year’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino-winner Lord Miles [post 7, Eric Cancel] and multiple stakes-winner Comedy Town [post 5, Manny Franco].

Vegso Racing Stable’s Kentucky homebred Lord Miles, a 4-year-old Curlin colt, posted a 59-1 nose win over Hit Show in the nine-furlong Wood Memorial, registering a career-high 93 Beyer. He has struggled to regain that winning form in seven starts since, with his best results coming in runner-up efforts in the seven-furlong Robert Hilton Memorial last August at Charles Town and a handicap mile in July at Gulfstream Park.

Lord Miles enters from a last-of-10 effort in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Charles Town Classic on August 23 where he exited the inside post.

Joseph, Jr. said the strong effort over the local main track was one of the reasons he wanted to try cutting back in the Vosburgh.

“That is a factor in why we want to run him back. The fact is that we want to cut him back in distance a bit. He’s kind of been a tricky horse,” Joseph, Jr. said. “Even prior to the Wood, he’d never really run to what we think he is capable of running.

“In Charles Town last year, he ran pretty good in a two-turn sprint there,” added Joseph, Jr. “That is why I brought him back to Charles Town this year - I thought he liked the track, but after that result, it made me think to cut him back in distance. So, he has been kind of hard to figure out. We haven’t really gotten the best line on him, and he has been a work in progress.”

Comedy Town, co-owned by Joseph, Jr. in partnership with Ten Twenty Racing, will look to go from claim to fame after being haltered for $25,000 in March from a runner-up effort at Gulfstream Park.

The 6-year-old Speightstown gray, who was fourth in a claiming sprint at first asking over the Gulfstream synthetic for current connections, has since won three straight starts over the dirt at the Hallandale Beach oval, beginning with an optional-claiming score in June over a sloppy and sealed strip.

Comedy Town followed with a stalking score in the six-furlong Listed Smile Sprint on July 6 which garnered a 100 Beyer and saw multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Sibelius finish third. He arrives from another off-track score in the seven-furlong Benny The Bull on August 24 while racing over a muddy and sealed strip.

“He’s gotten very good since we put him on the dirt,” Joseph, Jr. said. “We ran him back on the Tapeta the first time and he didn’t run good. Then, he was working well on the dirt. I said, ‘Let’s try him on the dirt.’

“We put him in an allowance and risked him for a tag again and he won,” continued Joseph, Jr. “It was sloppy that day, so we didn’t know if the slop caused it but then he came back and won again on the fast dirt, obviously beating some good horses in the Smile. He came right back and won on the slop again. He’s definitely a dirt horse. That has been the turnaround, the dirt has really turned him around.”

Comedy Town, out of the graded stakes-winner Distorted Humor mare Unbridled Humor, has banked $396,225 through a 27-6-5-4 record.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott will send out a pair of contenders in Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber and Jerold Zaro’s Baby Yoda [post 3, Dylan Davis] and LNJ Foxwoods’ Kentucky homebred Scotland [post 2, Junior Alvarado] in search of a third straight win in this event following past success with Champions Elite Power [2022] and Cody’s Wish [2023].

Baby Yoda made the grade in June during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga when drawing off to a six-length score in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 2 True North presented by F. W. Webb. The impressive effort garnered a 102 Beyer – his best number since his lofty 114 figure earned in an allowance romp in September 2021 at the Spa.

Baby Yoda followed his True North score with a pair of Grade 1 attempts at the Saratoga summer meet when fourth in the six-furlong Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap in July and sixth in the seven-furlong Forego last out on August 24.

The 6-year-old Prospective gelding has posted a 6-2-2-1 record at the Big A that includes a prominent runner-up effort in the one-mile 2022 Grade 2 Kelso Handicap.

Scotland, a 4-year-old Good Magic chestnut, captured the Listed Curlin, a restricted nine-furlong event, last July at Saratoga. He followed with a pacesetting sixth in the 10-furlong Grade 1 Travers last August ahead of a distant off-the-board effort in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby last September.

Scotland has focused solely on sprinting this season with four optional-claiming efforts on his ledger, including a last-out three-length win traveling seven furlongs on July 26 at Saratoga in a salty affair that included the multiple graded stakes-placed runners-up Accretive and Castle Chaos.

Rounding out a talented field is the Ignacio Correas, IV-trained Mufasa [post 6, Irad Ortiz, Jr.], a Group 3-winner in his native Chile, who is cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 3 Ack Ack at Churchill Downs; and graded stakes-placed Maryland-bred Seven’s Eleven [post 1, Kendrick Carmouche] for trainer Michael Simone, who arrives from an allowance optional-claiming win at Laurel Park that garnered a career-best 99 Beyer.

The Vosburgh is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s 12-race program which is headlined by the Grade 1, $500,000 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic in Race 6. The lucrative card also includes the Grade 2, $400,000 Woodward in Race 4 and the Grade 2, $200,000 Pilgrim in Race 11 offering a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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