Graded stakes winners Sun King and High Limit highlight a tough, compact field of seven in Saturday's $300,000 Leonard Richards Stakes (gr. III) at Delaware Park. The 1 1/16-mile contest marks the first start for the duo since finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I).
Sun King and High Limit also tangled in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) and Kentucky Derby (gr. I). Sun King was fourth in the Blue Glass and finished unplaced in the Kentucky Derby. High Limit was second in the Blue Grass, but was unplaced in the Kentucky Derby.
Owned by Tracy Farmer and trained by Nick Zito, Sun King, began the year by winning an allowance race at Gulfstream Park before taking the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. III) by 3 1/4 lengths.
The son of Charismatic will have the services of jockey Rafael Bejarano and will break from post one.
High Limit, trained by Bobby Frankel for Gary and Mary West, won the Louisiana Derby (gr. II) in his first start on the year after finishing his juvenile season an undefeated two-for-two.
Edgar Prado gets the call aboard the son of
Maria's Mon and will break from post two.
While Sun King and High Limit will draw a lot of attention, the field also features the Bob Baffert-trained Sort It Out and Preakness runner-up Scrappy T.
Sort It Out most recently finished second, beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Naughty New Yorker, in the restricted June 26 Mike Lee Stakes at Belmont Park. Before that he finished up the track in the Kentucky Derby after recording a second-place finish in the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. II).
Jerry Bailey will pilot the son of
Out of Place from post three.
Scrappy T will also be making his first start since the Preakness, where he veered out causing Afleet Alex to drop to knees before rallying across the wire first.
Ramon Dominguez, who was aboard Scrappy T in the Preakness, gets the return call. The pair will break from post four.
The field for Saturday's $300,000 Leonard Richards Stakes (gr. III) includes:
1-- Sun King (Rafael Bejarano, 5/2)
2-- High Limit (Edgar Prado, 7/2)
3-- Sort It Out (Jerry Bailey, 5/1)
4-- Scrappy T (Ramon Dominguez, 9/5)
5-- Papi Chullo (no rider named, 12/1)
6-- Golden Man (John Velazquez, 10/1)
7-- Letterman's Humor (Clinton Potts, 15/1)
