Eight Stakes Winners, Three Graded, Among Loaded Field of 10
Six-Furlong Sprint Tops Four Stakes Worth $450,000 in Purse

BALTIMORE – Jun Park and Delia Nash’s millionaire gelding Sibelius, who made his race debut in Maryland nearly 3 ½ years ago, looks to regain his winning form when he returns to Laurel Park Sunday for a highly competitive edition of the listed $150,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash.

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

Preceding the De Francis is a trio of $100,000 stakes – the seven-furlong Concern for 3-year-olds, 6 ½-furlong Alma North for fillies and mares 3 and up and 1 1/8-mile Deputed Testamony for horses 3 and older. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

First run in 1990, the De Francis boasts an illustrious roster of winners including 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.

Switzerland won the 2018 De Francis and went on to become a multiple group-stakes winner in Dubai including the 2022 Golden Shaheen (G1). Millionaire Lite the Fuse – bred, owned and trained by the late Dick Dutrow – is the only two-time De Francis winner (1995-96).

Sunday’s De Francis drew a field of 10, eight of them multiple stakes winners led by the 6-year-old Sibelius, whose nine career victories include the 2023 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) and 2022 and 2023 Mr. Prospector (G3). The latter two came at Gulfstream Park, where Sibelius returned to be third in the July 6 Smile Sprint in his first race since finishing 11th March 30 in his Golden Shaheen title defense.

“We didn’t have the screws fully tightened going to Gulfstream, which we knew. He made a nice move there, hit the front and then just probably ran out of a bit of steam. Not taking anything away from the winner or the second-place finisher. They’re proper horses,” trainer Jerry O’Dwyer said.

“We were very proud of him, very pleased. We’re running him back here in three weeks because he came out of the race so well. He had a nice maintenance breeze the other day at Gulfstream, just to make sure he was moving good and feeling good and himself,” he added. “He’s giving us all the right signs.”

Sibelius made his first career start March 21, 2021 at Laurel, finishing second by less than a length after being unruly at the gate and breaking slowly. It is his only time racing over the track though he has run twice at Pimlico, where he won the first of his six lifetime stakes in the 2022 Lite the Fuse, beating fellow multiple graded winner Jaxon Traveler.

“The Laurel track is a lovely, fair track. It’s a big galloping track,” the one-time Laurel-based O’Dwyer said. “There’s plenty of runners in the race and he’s drawn right in the middle of them. Everything should be good. We’ll see what happens.

“Obviously you always worry when they travel that they get there in good shape and they travel good and you get them fully rehydrated and things like that,” he added. “He’s an old pro at that now, traveling around, so it’s only second nature to him. All his hard training is done so it’s just a matter of getting there in one piece, happy and well.”

Sibelius, an earner of more than $1.8 million in purses that won the six-furlong Pelican Feb. 10 at Tampa Bay Downs for a second consecutive year, was also nominated to Saturday’s Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1) at Saratoga.

“We were thinking of going there, but I just felt like this would be a bit of an easier spot to help get his confidence back up again,” O’Dwyer said. “He came out of his race good from Gulfstream and there wasn’t really much for him back for another eight weeks since that race, so I was thinking that if he came out of the race good we might run him back soon again.”

Among the competition are Grade 3 winners Little Vic and Dean Delivers. Little Vic, owned by Victoria’s Ranch, became a stakes winner in his only previous race at Laurel, the seven-furlong City of Laurel in 2022. Three starts later he sprung a mild upset in the 2023 Tom Fool (G3) and has won once in seven subsequent tries, a six-furlong optional claiming allowance March 23 in Tampa.

Stonehedge homebred Dean Delivers comes into the De Francis having won back-to-back stakes since being moved to trainer Ned Allard at Delaware Park from his native Florida, where last summer he won the Big Drama and Smile Sprint (G3) at Gulfstream as a prelude to his third-place finish in the Vanderbilt for previous conditioner Michael Yates.

“Bo Yates had the horse in Florida and he did a wonderful job with him. He made a lot of money and he did very well,” Allard said. “But during the winter months he started to tail off a bit and they thought it was starting to be a little too much for him, which it can do down there.

“He was a little quiet when he first shipped up but after he was here for about a week he just turned into a different horse. He’s been training really well [and] he looks great,” he added. “His last two performances were superb, so I’m hoping that he can continue on.”

Dean Delivers returned from two months between starts to romp by eight lengths over a sloppy Monmouth Park surface in its Mr. Prospector May 27, a race where Little Vic ran third. Dean Delivers followed up with a 2 ½-length triumph in the Alapocas Run July 8 at Delaware, also run at six furlongs. The second and third-place finishers from that race, Prince of Jericho and Gordian Knot, also return in the De Francis.

“I thought he’d run well the first time, but that far outdid my expectations. I felt he’d be tough in the race, but when he drew off and won like that … he wowed me,” Allard said. “I thought the Mr. Prospector was a competitive race, maybe not as tough as his next race but he ran extremely well that day, too. He’s doing super.”

Michael Dubb and Morris Bailey’s Prince of Jericho is based with trainer Brittany Russell at Laurel, where the Munnings colt has earned all five of his career wins to go along with three seconds and a third from 10 starts. Each of his stakes wins – the 2023 Concern and Spectacular Bid – have come over its main track, and he has also run second in the 2023 Chick Lang (G3) and third in the May 18 Maryland Sprint (G3) at Pimlico.

Prince of Jericho opened his 4-year-old season with an optional claiming allowance victory sprinting 5 ½ furlongs Feb. 23 at Laurel, then ran second by a nose behind multiple stakes winner Coastal Mission in the April 13 Frank Whiteley before his two most recent starts.

“We’ve thrown him some tough tasks and he’s been showing up and running hard. Last time I was a little worried because my horses weren’t running that well shipping in to Delaware, and he ran great. He got beat by a good horse, and he’s back in there,” Russell said. “I’m just hoping this time around that home field advantage counts. He lives here [and] he trains here. I think he got a lot out of that Delaware race, maybe we can turn the tables on some of these.”

Russell has run second in the De Francis each of the past three years with now-retired Wondrwherecraigis, who finished first in 2021 – the last year the race held graded status – but was disqualified to second for interference near the wire.

“This is a really tough race,” she said. “This is no easy Dash.”

Gordian Knot and Twisted Ride are both four-time stakes winners. Joseph Imbesi’s Gordian Knot, trained by Laurel summer meet leader Jamie Ness, is seeking his second open stakes victory and first win overall since the Salvatore DeBunda Sprint last August at Parx. The 4-year-old Social Inclusion gelding has two wins and two thirds in four tries at six furlongs.

Kasey K Racing Stable, Michael Day and Final Turn Racing Stables’ Twisted Ride earned his ninth career win in a seven-furlong Pennsylvania-bred allowance June 8 at Parx. Twice Grade 3-placed, the gelded 5-year-old son of Great Notion has twice won open stakes and is cross-entered in the Vanderbilt.

Mopo Racing’s Alwaysinahurry, based at Laurel with trainer Phil Capuano, continues his quest to win a stakes race for the fourth consecutive year. Off for 12 months before making his comeback May 25 at Pimlico, the 6-year-old gelding exits a 2 ¼-length optional claiming allowance victory sprinting six furlongs June 28 at Laurel.

The Cottonwood Stable’s Maryland homebred Seven’s Eleven is entered to make his first start since finishing second behind Post Time in Laurel’s Feb. 17 General George (G3). Now based at Delaware with trainer Nesvil Hernan Bailon, he won the Maryland Million Sprint and Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial last fall at Laurel for previous trainer Carlos Mancilla.

Completing the field are three-time stakes-placed Five Dreams, entered back nine days after finishing fifth in a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint at Laurel first off the claim for trainer Jose Magana, and Awesome Aaron.