BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Florida-bred Dean Delivers had to repel longshot Five Dreams several times to win the $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel Park Sunday and provide a big day for owner and breeder Marilyn Campbell’s Stonehedge LLC and stallion Cajun Breeze. Dean Delivers was the second Laurel Park stakes winner of the day for Stonehedge and Cajun Breeze after Sunny Breeze won the $99,000 Concern earlier on the card.
Dean Delivers and jockey Jaime Rodriguez went right to the front from the oustside post in the six-furlong De Francis Dash as Five Dreams and Sibelius chased from a length-and-a-half back while together in second. Five Dreams and jockey J.G. Torrealba tried to challenge heading into the far turn after a :22.22 quarter mile but Dean Delivers resisted. Five Dreams came again with a quarter mile to the finish but Dean Delivers again pulled away as they straightened up for the run down the lane.
Dean Delivers took a length advantage into deep stretch when Five Dreams made one more run nearing the finish, only to come up a half-length short in second as Dean Delivers won in 1:10.10 on the fast track. Gordian Knot was another length-and-a-quarter farther back in third followed by Prince of Jericho, Little Vic, Sibelius and Seven’s Eleven.
Dean Delivers paid $4.80 to win as the 7-5 favorite.
After starting the year with two unsuccessful efforts in the $129,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint on Feb. 24 and in the NYRA Bets Sprint against fellow Florida-breds at Tampa Bay Downs on March 24, Dean Delivers was sent Northeast to trainer Edward T. Allard.
Dean Delivers promptly won the $104,000 Mr. Prospector by eight lengths over a sloppy six furlongs at Monmouth Park on May 27 and the $125,000 Alopacas Run by two-and-a-half lengths at Delaware Park on July 8.
“I think the Mid Atlantic weather has helped. He’s really blossomed up here. He’s put on some weight, he looks great, he feels great and he’s running great,” Allard said. “The only flaw today, I was hoping there would be a little speed that we could run at and there wasn’t, so he had to kind of go wire to wire. And that made me a little nervous.”
Dean Delivers is out of Slick and True, by Yes It’s True and he now has eight wins, eight seconds and two thirds in 24 starts with earnings of $727,660.
Slick and True has five winners from seven starters with Dean Delivers as her only stakes winner. She has an unraced 2-year-old filly, J J’s True Bet, by Gentlemen’s Bet and was bred to both Lone Sailor and Strike Power in 2023. Slick and True is a third-generation mare from the Stonehedge LLC breeding program. Slick and True is out of the Florida-bred stakes-winning mare Slick Lady, who was bred by the late Gil Campbell. Campbell purchased Dean Delivers’ third dam, Beaty Sark, for $40,000 at the 1987 Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale.
