Delaware Handicap finally gets overdue grade I ranking

Yesterday afternoon, I read with excitement the modifications to the 2013 graded stakes schedule released by the American Graded Stakes Committee. Of course, there was the usual plethora of rather uninteresting upgrades and downgrades to various races across the country . . . the Fort Lauderdale is a grade II this year rather than a grade III . . . the Robert J. Frankel is a grade III instead of a grade II . . . you get the picture. But a couple of the changes really caught my eye, and one in particular was a change I have been anticipating for several years now: At long last, the $750,000 Delaware Handicap (gr. II) at Delaware Park has returned to grade I status.

The ten-furlong race for fillies and mares, first run in 1937, has had a long and storied history. Busanda, Parlo, Flower Bowl, Endine, Old Hat, Susan's Girl, Obeah, Susan's Girl, Our Mims, Late Bloomer, and Relaxing are among the notable names to have won the race during its first forty years of existance. In fact, the race was held in such high regard that when North American races received grades for the first time in 1973, the Delaware Handicap was awarded grade I status.

Unfortunately, a string of sub-par winners led to the race being downgraded to grade II in 1990, and to grade III in 1996. It seemed as though the race was about to go the way of the Jersey Derby and the Laurel Futurity when it suddenly received a revival of fortune. Upgraded to grade II in 2003, the race slowly began drawing better and better horses. The first was the Chilean-bred mare Wild Spirit, who won the race after taking the Shuvee Handicap (gr. II) earlier in the year. She subsequently validated her talent by winning the Ruffian Handicap (gr. I) and placing in the Personal Ensign Handicap (gr. I) and Apple Blossom Handicap (gr. I).

In 2005, the race was won by Summer Wind Dancer, who had won the previous year's Acorn Stakes (gr. I) and placed in both the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) and Fantasy Stakes (gr. II). A classy filly, if not championship caliber, she was a good filly that did nothing to hurt the reputation of the race.

But it was 2006 that really put the race back on map. The winner was Fleet Indian, who had previously won five straight races, including the Sixty Sails Handicap (gr. III) and the Next Move Handicap (gr. III). She would subsequently take the Personal Ensign Handicap (gr. I) and Beldame Stakes (gr. I) en route to honors as the Eclipse champion older female of the year.

Grade I winners Unbridled Belle, Hystericalady, and Swift Temper claimed the next three renewals of the race and provided evidence that perhaps the race needed to be returned to grade I status sometime in the near future. But during the last three years, the evidence has become downright proof that the race is obviously one of the best races in the country and must be considered so in grade as well as in theory.

2010 saw Life at Ten win the race in impressive fashion, capping a six-race win streak that also included the Ogden Phipps Handicap (gr. I) and Sixty Sails Handicap (gr. III). Two starts later, she claimed the Beldame Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park to establish herself as one of the best fillies or mares in the country. In 2011, the Delaware ended up being one of the most exciting races in history, with Eclipse champion Blind Luck edging out eventual Horse of the Year Havre de Grace by a nose, with Life at Ten in third, seventeen lengths back. And as if that weren't enough, the 2012 edition was won by Eclipe champino Royal Delta, who came back to win the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic (gr. I) and Beldame Stakes (gr. I), likely sewing up a second Eclipse award in the process. Well behind her in fourth was Love and Pride, subsequent winner of the Personal Ensign Handicap (gr. I) and the Zenyatta Stakes (gr. I).

This vast difference between the race's official grade and the actual quality of the race did not go unrecognized by the Graded Stakes Committee, which reacted quickly by upgrading the race to grade I status for the first time in over two decades. This change is one that will surely be welcomed by the entire industry. Not only does it provide the country's best fillies and mares with a logical race to point for in July, it also rewards Delaware Park for trying their best to a create a top-class race for racing fans to enjoy. Lastly, it helps add some diversity to the division thanks to its ten-furlong distance, which is becoming more and more rare these days.

Thank you, American Graded Stakes Committee, for recognizing that a problem existed and acting so quickly to correct it.

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While on the subject of race grades, allow me also commend the Committee for restoring the Hopeful Stakes to grade I status after relegating it to grade II status for 2012. While I certainly believe that there was some logic to the downgrading decision -- the 2011 and 2010 renewals of the Hopeful were a bit sub-par -- the fact that the 2011 Hopeful later produced Kentucky Derby/Preakness winner I'll Have Another, Breeders' Cup Sprint winner Trinniberg, and Amsterdam Stakes (gr. II) winner Currency Swap made it clear that their decision may have been a bit hasty. The 2012 Hopeful -- the first and only run as a grade II -- further cemented that fact, as the victorious Shanghai Bobby went on to capture both the Champagne Stakes (gr. I) and the Breeder' Cup Juvenile (gr. I), while third-place finisher Bern Identity won the Jean Lafitte Stakes and fourth-place Overanalyze claimed the Remsen Stakes (gr. II). That's a pretty high-quality field!

The rest of the modifications seemed more-or-less fitting with two minor exceptions. I would have left the Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap as a grade I rather than reducing it to grade II, but I can certainly see the logic behind their decision. I also would have left the Fantasy Stakes as a grade II rather than lowering it to grade III. True, the last two editions of the race have been a bit sub-par, but from 2008-to-2010, the race was won by eventual Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles, the legendary Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, and Eclipse champion three-year-old filly and Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) winner Blind Luck.

-Keelerman