Laurel Park's De Francis Dash stakes tops off day full of stakes

Jun Park and Delia Nash's millionaire gelding Sibelius, who debuted in Maryland nearly 3 ½ years ago, aims to regain his winning form when he returns to Laurel Park on Sunday for a competitive edition of the $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, is the highlight of a 10-race program featuring four stakes worth $450,000 in purses.

Preceding the De Francis are three $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. The first race post time is 12:25 p.m.

First run in 1990, the De Francis has an impressive history of winners including Housebuster, who beat fellow Hall of Famer Safely Kept in 1991, and sprint champions Cherokee Run, Smoke Glacken, Thor’s Echo, and Benny the Bull.

Sunday's De Francis features a field of 10, eight of them multiple stakes winners led by the 6-year-old Sibelius. Sibelius has nine career victories, including the 2023 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) and the 2022 and 2023 Mr. Prospector (G3). The latter two wins were at Gulfstream Park, where Sibelius returned to place third in the July 6 Smile Sprint, his first race since finishing 11th on 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.

Sibelius began his career on March 21, 2021, at Laurel, finishing second by less than a length despite being unruly at the gate and having a slow start. This was his only race at Laurel, although he has competed twice at Pimlico. At Pimlico, he secured the first of his six lifetime stakes wins in the 2022 Lite the Fuse, defeating multiple graded winner Jaxon Traveler.

“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, who has earned over $1.8 million in purses and won the six-furlong Pelican on Feb. 10 at Tampa Bay Downs for the second year in a row, was also nominated for 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 achieved a mild upset in the 2023 Tom Fool (G3) and has won once in seven subsequent attempts, a six-furlong optional claiming allowance on March 23 in Tampa.

Stonehedge homebred Dean Delivers enters the De Francis after winning back-to-back stakes since moving to trainer Ned Allard at Delaware Park from his native Florida. Last summer in Florida, he won the Big Drama and Smile Sprint (G3) at Gulfstream before finishing third in the Vanderbilt for his previous trainer, Michael Yates.

Dean Delivers returned after a two-month break between starts to secure an eight-length victory on a sloppy Monmouth Park track in the Mr. Prospector on May 27, where Little Vic finished third. Dean Delivers then achieved a 2 ½-length win in the Alapocas Run on July 8 at Delaware, also at six furlongs. The second and third-place finishers from that race, Prince of Jericho and Gordian Knot, are also competing in the De Francis.

Michael Dubb and Morris Bailey’s Prince of Jericho is trained by Brittany Russell at Laurel, where the Munnings colt has achieved all five of his career wins, along with three seconds and a third from 10 starts. His stakes victories – the 2023 Concern and Spectacular Bid – have come on this main track. He also placed second in the 2023 Chick Lang (G3) and third in the May 18 Maryland Sprint (G3) at Pimlico.

Prince of Jericho began his 4-year-old season with an optional claiming allowance victory over 5 ½ furlongs on Feb. 23 at Laurel, followed by a close second to multiple stakes winner Coastal Mission in the April 13 Frank Whiteley before his two most recent starts.

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

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 aiming for his second open stakes victory and first overall win since the Salvatore DeBunda Sprint last August at Parx. The 4-year-old Social Inclusion gelding has two wins and two thirds in four attempts at six furlongs.

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

Mopo Racing’s Alwaysinahurry, trained by Phil Capuano at Laurel, is on a quest to win a stakes race for the fourth consecutive year. After a 12-month hiatus, he made his comeback on May 25 at Pimlico and recently won a 2 ¼-length optional claiming allowance sprinting six furlongs on June 28 at Laurel.

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

Rounding out the field are three-time stakes-placed Five Dreams, who is entered back nine days after finishing fifth in a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint at Laurel, and Awesome Aaron.