BY STEVE KOCH

Florida-bred Dean Delivers returns to Saturday’s $175,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and upward at Laurel Park.

The 6-year-old gelding, bred and owned by Stonehedge LLC, has compiled a notable record of 28 starts with nine wins, eight seconds and four thirds for earnings of $829,910. Sired by Cajun Breeze out of the Yes It’s True mare Slick and True, Dean Delivers captured last year’s renewal of this stakes.

His 2024 campaign included victories in the Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park, the Alapocas Run Stakes at Delaware Park, and the Rumson Stakes at Monmouth Park. The gelding’s 2025 season began with a third-place finish in the Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park on May 26.

 

Dean Delivers will be ridden by jockey Jaime Rodriguez and trained by Edward Allard, carrying 120 pounds in the field of eight runners.

Super Chow enters as a formidable opponent with career earnings of $957,145 from 27 starts and 11 victories. The 5-year-old has been active in 2025, winning the Get Serious Stakes at Monmouth Park on June 15 and the Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes in February. He finished fourth in the Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park, one spot behind Dean Delivers.

Caramel Chip brings extensive experience to the field with 46 career starts and $486,710 in earnings. The 7-year-old has made six starts in 2025, including a second in Gulfstream Park’s Pelican Stakes in January, a victory in an allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park on March 1 and a second-place finish a $175,000 optional-claiming at Churchill Downs on May 16.

Happy Is a Choice has earned $735,611 from 16 starts with six victories. The 5-year-old gelding won the Ring The Bell Stakes at Oaklawn Park in December 2024 followed up with a second in Oaklawn’s King Cotton stakes. He has recorded two third-place finishes this campaign, including efforts in the Grade 3 Aristides Stakes and the St. Matthews at Churchill Downs.

Celtic Contender, a 4-year-old Maryland-bred colt, enters with five wins from 15 starts and $299,805 in earnings. He finished second in the General George Stakes at Laurel Park in February and third in the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Stakes at Pimlico in May.

Petingas Twin, a 4-year-old colt trained by Anthony Farrior, has four wins from 15 starts with $187,360 in earnings. His most recent victory came in an allowance optional claiming race at Laurel Park in July, 2024. This will be his second start of 2025, hoping to improve off a fourth on June 6 in a Laurel Park optional-claiming.

Subrogate brings graded stakes experience, having competed in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga in 2024, a sixth-place finish. The 5-year-old horse has four wins from nine starts with $272,600 in earnings and finished second, ahead of Dean Delivers, in the Mr. Prospector Stakes at Monmouth Park on May 26.

Faster Gator, a 3-year-old colt, has won half of his four lifetime starts, breaking his maiden on first-asking in June, 2024, and capturing an optional claiming race off a nine month layoff on March 7, both at Laurel Park. He since has finished a close second in the Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct on April 19.

The six-furlong De Francis Memorial Dash goes as race 11, at 4:57 p.m. ET. 

Parts of this article were drafted by Claude.ai.

Return to the June 27 issue of Wire to Wire