BY STEVE KOCH
Florida-bred Majestic Lucia makes her second straight start in stakes company Saturday in the $300,000 Delaware Oaks (G3), a mile-and-one-sixteenth test for nine 3-year-old fillies at Delaware Park. She is one of four in the field exiting the May 15 Grade 2 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan at Laurel Park, and the highest finisher of that group, having come home fourth behind fellow Florida-bred My Miss Mo.
Bred in Florida by Monarch Farms, Inc., Majestic Lucia is a dark bay or brown daughter of McKinzie out of the Lucky Pulpit mare Starship Leia. She broke slowly and raced wide in that Black-Eyed Susan, a trip that belied the form that earned her a spot in this field: a two-race win streak built on a handy seven-furlong optional claiming maiden score at Gulfstream Park in February and a neck victory going a mile and 40 yards at Tampa Bay Downs on Apr 4. Owned by Elena Racing Stable and Carga, Inc., she has won two of four starts and earned $83,390 for trainer Victor Barboza, Jr. Junior Alvarado has the return mount and breaks from post five at 12-1 on the morning line. Should she win, breeder Monarch Farms, Inc. would collect a $5,000 FTBOA Export Incentive for a Florida-bred victory in an out-of-state stakes.
Luv Your Neighbor heads the field as the 2-1 morning-line favorite. The Ontario-bred daughter of Constitution, owned by Lael Stables, has finished second or third in all four 2026 starts, placing in three graded stakes in succession: a runner-up effort in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra and a third in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, both at this mile-and-one-sixteenth trip, followed by a second to On Time Girl in the seven-furlong Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs. Honest and consistent, she has hit the board in seven of eight career starts. Trainer Michael Stidham, who prepped her over the Delaware surface, has Luis Saez aboard from post seven.
Pashmina is the 3-1 second choice. The daughter of Constitution, trained by Rob Atras for Red White and Blue Racing LLC, ran second in the Grade 3 Gazelle at Aqueduct in April but most recently faded to 11th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. Jose L. Ortiz rides from post two.
Dazzling Dame and Sneaky Good share third choice at 5-1. Dazzling Dame, a Maryland-bred daughter of Girvin trained by Brittany T. Russell, won four of seven starts, including a wire-to-wire score in the Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct in February and a runner-up effort in the Virginia Oaks at Colonial in March. She most recently pressed the pace and tired to eighth in the Kentucky Oaks. Jevian Toledo rides the 120-pound highweight from post six. Sneaky Good, a daughter of Into Mischief from the Brad H. Cox barn, exits a second in the Grade 2 Beaumont at Keeneland and a third in the Grade 3 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park. She draws post nine with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard, but is cross-entered in Saturday’s Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs.
Jumping the Gun, a Gun Runner filly trained by Andrew Simoff, exits a career-best second to My Miss Mo in the Black-Eyed Susan and has won three of four over the Delaware oval last year; she is 8-1 under Julio A. Hernandez from the rail.
Completing the field are Tahlequah (John Velazquez), an Authentic filly for trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. who won her last start, an Oaklawn Park maiden special weight at this distance, at 10-1; Miss Fulton Gal (Raul Mena), a Rock Your World filly and Beyond the Wire Stakes winner for trainer Michael E. Gorham at 20-1; and Savor It (Mychel Sanchez), a daughter of Vino Rosso at 30-1. Post time is 6:00 p.m. ET.
Return to the June 12 issue of Wire to Wire
