Delaware Park to Host Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial This Sunday
Delaware Park, June 2024 – The upcoming Grade 3, $250,000 Robert G. Dick Memorial at Delaware Park is shaping up to be an exciting race this Sunday. The 1 3/8 miles turf event has attracted a field of nine talented fillies and mares, including the H. Graham Motion-trained Vergara, who should benefit from the cutback in distance.
Vergara, a 5-year-old daughter of Noble Mission, has been running well in longer turf stakes this year, finishing third in the Bewitch Stakes (G3) at Keeneland and the Keertana Stakes at Churchill Downs. Her two previous wins came at the 1 5/16 miles distance at Kentucky Downs, and Motion believes the 1 3/8 miles of the Robert G. Dick Memorial “falls right into her wheelhouse.”
“She is doing super, and after her last race, we kind of focused on this race,” said trainer H. Graham Motion, who has won the Robert G. Dick Memorial nine times since the race was inaugurated in 1997. “I like the fact this race is a mile and three eighths instead of a mile and a half. I have been questioning a little bit if she wants to go a mile and a half, and that is why I feel good this race falls right into her wheelhouse.”
Another top contender is Don Alberto Stable’s Alpha Bella, who will be stretching back out after finishing second in the mile and a sixteenth Miss Liberty Stakes at Monmouth Park. The 4-year-old daughter of Justify won the La Prevoyante Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park earlier this year and has a career record of 14: 3-4-2 with earnings of $368,115.
“She has been a very consistent filly and she likes the distance,” said trainer Todd Pletcher.
The Robert G. Dick Memorial is carded as the eighth race on Sunday’s card at Delaware Park, with an approximate post time of 4:00 p.m. EDT. Fans and handicappers can find the full entries and results at delawarepark.com.
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