Delaware Park
Delaware Park (also known as DelPark) is a horse racing track, casino, and golf course in Stanton, Delaware, United States which opened in 1936.
It is located just outside of Wilmington, about thirty miles from Philadelphia.
DelPark is the only thoroughbred horse racing track in Delaware. Races are run from April to November.
Race purses have increased in recent years owing to increasing casino revenues. With the United States national average horse racing purse of $20,762 in 2005, the average 2005 purse for DelPark of $30,650 has helped to attract more talented contenders and more first-time competitors to the venue for the 2005 and 2006 racing seasons.
The 2005 average purse for DelPark placed Delaware fifth among states of the United States; the first rank for average purse was held by New York at $41,229 per race. In recent years, near-Triple Crown winner Afleet Alex, and Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro both won their career debuts at Delaware (Barbaro did it on the grass at 7-1), and the sprint champion mare Xtra Heat was based there. The track is now home to many talented animals who routinely ship to and win at the major circuits in New York, Florida and Kentucky.
Delaware Park is also the only mid-Atlantic track to regularly card Arabian races. The area has a strong Arabian and equestrian population. Michael Matz, Barbaro’s trainer, won the silver medal in the equestrian events at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Matz is one of several mid-Atlantic trainers to perform on the national stage, along with Barclay Tagg (Funny Cide), perennial leading trainer Tim Ritchey (Afleet Alex), and J. Larry Jones, trainer of 2007 Kentucky Derby runnerup Hard Spun, who is also based at Delaware Park.
Though lacking in graded stakes events when compared to places like New York, Florida, Kentucky and California, the day-to-day cards at Delaware are on a par with almost any track in the country. One area in which the track could use an improvement is to reduce the advance scratch time, which is several days before each race. This results in many races being reduced to three or four-horse fields due to multiple scratches, especially in bad weather.
