“SHEER DRAMA” WINS THE $750,000 G1 DELAWARE HCP
STANTON, Del. – Sheer Drama had finished second in four of her last five starts and eight of her 17 career starts, but she finished the job Saturday at Delaware Park, besting Frivolous by two
lengths in the $750,000 Delaware Handicap. The Del Cap was the first Grade 1 victory for 5-year-old Sheer Drama. Her previous stakes victories had come in the Grade 2 Royal Delta at Gulfstream Park in March and in the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go at Laurel Park last September.
Trainer David Fawkes and Harold Queen, the owner and breeder of Sheer Drama, had been pointing her to the 1 1/4-mile Del Cap for some time. “We’ve been looking at this race for quite a while, especially Mr. Queen,” Fawkes said. “He’s been talking about this race for the last three months. We thought the added distance would really help us.” Frivolous had defeated Sheer Drama by 1 1/4 lengths in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs on June 13. Frivolous pressed the early leader in that race, took over nearing the stretch, and then held off Sheer Drama, who rallied from several lengths back. Besides Sheer Drama and Frivolous, there was little other speed in the seven-horse Del Cap field. At the break, Frivolous went to the lead and Sheer Drama settled into second position. On the far turn, Joe Bravo sent Sheer Drama after Frivolous and they turned into the stretch side by side.
The pair battled to midstretch, at which point Sheer Drama began to inch away. She won by two lengths. “To get a win after all those seconds is great,” Fawkes said. “To get it in a Grade 1 is big.” Sheer Drama paid $7 to win as the second choice. She was timed in 2:01.58. Frivolous, trained by Victoria Oliver and ridden by Jon Court, set fractions of 24.45 seconds, 48.83, 1:12.57, and 1:36.23. Fawkes said he wasn’t sure where Sheer Drama would run next but that he would like to get her to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Sheer Drama is a half-sister to Big Drama, who won the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Sprint for Fawkes and Queen after gaining a free berth by winning a Breeders’
Cup Challenge series race. Fawkes indicated they might try to do the same with Sheer Drama. The rest of the field never challenged the top pair. America finished third, 3 3/4 lengths behind
Frivolous and 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Flashy American in fourth. Rosalind, the 9-5 favorite, was fifth, three-quarters of a length farther back.