G3 Winner Apple Picker Gets Back on Track in Alma North
Frosted Departure Goes the Distance in Deputed Testamony

LAUREL, MD – Stonehedge homebred Dean Delivers capped a successful and emotional day for his connections, leading all the way around and repelling a late bid from 40-1 longshot Five Dreams to register a three-quarter-length triumph in Sunday’s listed $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash.

The 33rd running of the six-furlong De Francis for 3-year-olds and up, first run in 1990 and named for the late former president and chairman of both Laurel and historic Pimlico Race Course, headlined a 10-race program featuring four stakes worth $450,000 in purses.

Prior to the De Francis Sunny Breeze improved to 3-0 lifetime in the $100,000 Concern for 3-year-olds, Apple Picker was a popular winner of the $100,000 Alma North for fillies and mares, and Frosted Departure led all the way in the $100,000 Deputed Testamony for 3-year-olds and up.

Favored at 7-5, Dean Delivers added his name to an illustrious roster of De Francis winners that includes Housebuster – who beat fellow Hall of Famer Safely Kept in 1991 – and sprint champion counterparts Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor’s Echo and Benny the Bull.

In addition, Dean Delivers ($4.80) joined Sunny Breeze in providing a stakes double for jockey Jaime Rodriguez, 78-year-old trainer Edward T. ‘Ned’ Allard, and Florida-based Stonehedge, which continues to operate under Marilyn Campbell following the death of her husband, Gil, in 2021.

“This particular sprint has always been on my bucket list and it hadn’t happened yet until today, so that’s really neat,” said Allard, a winner of nearly 2,800 races best known for his work with Hall of Fame mare Mom’s Command. “I always wanted to win this race. This is kind of a special sprint race in Maryland. I started coming to Bowie in the 60’s with George Handy and it’s been a long haul, and Maryland has always been one of my favorite spots.”

Though racing first time in Maryland Dean Delivers has acclimated well to his new surroundings at Delaware Park, where he arrived in the spring after having raced almost exclusively in his native Florida since the summer of 2021. He extended his win streak to three in the De Francis following an eight-length romp in the May 27 Mr. Prospector at Monmouth Park and a 2 ½-length score in the July 8 Alapocas Run at Delaware.

“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.”

Situated outside his six rivals, Dean Delivers broke alertly and found himself on the lead through a quarter-mile in 22.50 seconds with Five Dreams on his outside in second and Group 1-winning millionaire Sibelius third shadowed by multiple stakes winner Seven’s Eleven – making his first start in five months – on the rail in fourth.

Dean Delivers remained in front after going a half in 45.43 and straightened for home with Five Dreams hanging tough to his outside and the rest scrambling for position. Five Dreams continued in determined pursuit, but Dean Delivers refused to yield and crossed the wire in 1:10.10 over a fast main track.

“My horse just outbroke everybody else and I let him get comfortable in the beginning and once they got next to me, he was game. Every time a horse came up to me, he just wanted to go,” Rodriguez said. “When we got to the top of the lane and changed leads, I tipped him out just a hair and he just keep going. He can run, that horse.

“I wasn’t that concerned [in the stretch] because I know he likes to run with horses, and I felt like it was going to do me a favor because every time [Five Dreams] got next to me, my horse just took off,” he added. “In the beginning I said I don’t want to use him too much, and once he got so relaxed and that horse got next to him, he just kept going.”

Gordian Knot finished third, 1 ¼ lengths behind Five Dreams, and it was another 1 ¾ lengths back to Prince of Jericho in fourth. Grade 3 winner Little Vic, Sibelius and Seven’s Eleven completed the order of finish. Multiple stakes winner Alwaysinahurry; Twisted Ride, third in Saturday’s Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) at Saratoga; and Awesome Aaron were scratched.

Dean Delivers improved his lifetime record to 8-8-2 with four stakes wins and $727,660 in purse earnings from 23 starts. Last summer he won Gulfstream Park’s Big Drama and Smile Sprint (G3) and was third in the Vanderbilt in successive starts for previous trainer Michael Yates.

“He dug in and gave it his best effort today,” Allard said. “We’re very proud of him.”

G3 Winner Apple Picker Gets Back on Track in Alma North

Michael Dubb’s Apple Picker, racing over her home track for the first time since becoming a graded-stakes winner in mid-February, came with a steady run down the center of the track to reel in pacesetter Ms. Bucchero and go on to a three-length victory in the $100,000 Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and up sprinting 6 ½ furlongs.

It was the sixth win and third in a stakes for Apple Picker ($4), who bounced back from an eighth-place finish in the seven-furlong Bed o’ Roses (G3) June 15 at Aqueduct. She improved to two wins and two seconds from four tries at Laurel, capped by the Barbara Fritchie (G3) Feb. 17.

“She loves it here. She’s good at home. She likes this track. I think it’s simple, just kind of keep her doing what she likes,” winning trainer Brittany Russell said. “We took her to New York twice. Maybe she didn’t like that track, maybe it was too tough, maybe she didn’t get the setup. Whatever the excuses were, it didn’t go well so we won’t try that again. I’m not saying we won’t ship her elsewhere.”

Ms. Bucchero, exiting a six-furlong allowance win June 21 at Laurel where she sat of the pace before coming on to win by two lengths, went straight to the lead under Jose Batista and posted a quarter-mile in 22.68 seconds. They extended their advantage after a half in 46.04 and approached the stretch in command, but jockey Sheldon Russell was able to split horses and set Apple Picker down for a drive to the wire.

“She just looks like she’s galloping [with] too much to do,” Russell said. “The filly in front, she was just doing her thing on her own and I was like, ‘Oh, geez, we’re going to have a hard time running her down here,’ but Sheldon, he made it happen.”

Ms. Bucchero held second, 1 ½ lengths ahead of Chilean Group 1 winner Joke Sisi, followed by Happy Clouds, Bella Bettina and Sweet Alyssa. Deco Strong, Late Frost and Talk to the Judge were scratched.

The Alma North is named for the Maryland-bred champion 3-year-old filly and Horse of the Year in 1971 and Maryland-bred champion older filly of 1972. Owned by the late Eugene Mori’s East Acres Stable, Alma North won 23 of 78 career starts with $513,597 in purse earnings from 1970-74. Her victories included graded-stakes scores in the Matchmaker (G1) and Vineland (G2), Margate (G3) and Betsy Ross (G3) handicaps in 1973.

Frosted Departure Goes the Distance in $100,000 Deputed Testamony

RT Racing Stable’s dual Grade 3-placed Frosted Departure, a sprinter-turned-router for Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1)-winning trainer Ken McPeek, got to the lead and never looked back to register an impressive 8 ¾-length triumph in the $100,000 Deputed Testamony.

Ridden by Horacio Karamanos, Frosted Departure ($5.20) covered 1 1/8 miles over a fast main track in 1:51.34 to notch his third win in four starts and third overall in stakes company. Karamanos previously won the Deputed Testamony with Digger in 2007.

Frosted Departure broke running from the rail and wasted no time establishing his presence up front, going in 24.75 for a quarter-mile with multiple stakes winner Ain’t Da Beer Cold tracking in second, stakes winner Auto Glide sitting third and 7-5 favorite for Trouble fourth. The half went in 49.85 as Frosted Departure began to gain separation as his rivals scrambled to keep up, and the 4-year-old Frosted gelding galloped to the wire an easy winner. Time for Trouble made a belated bid to get second, 3 ½ lengths in front of Auto Glide, who had won four straight, with Auto Glide fourth. Shaft’s Bullet and defending champion Be Better were scratched.

“He’s a horse that was a sprinter originally and he was pretty successful as a sprinter,” assistant trainer Ray Bryner said. “Kenny had an idea one day let’s run him in a route, put him on the lead and see what happens.

“He generally doesn’t like to play well with others,” he added. “If they hook him, he’ll kind of give way [which] has a lot to do probably with why he’s still sound, but he doesn’t want to dig in when a horse hooks him. But if he’s on the lead he throws his ears up and keeps cruising.”

The Deputed Testamony pays homage to the last Maryland-bred winner of the Preakness Stakes (G1), who upset Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sunny’s Halo in 1983. Bred and raced by Bonita Farm and Francis P. Sears and trained by Bill Boniface, Deputed Testamony also won the Haskell (G1) and Pimlico’s Federico Tesio during his 3-year-old season.