Delaware Park Picks & Predictions — June 24, 2026
Delaware Park gets a beautiful Wednesday to work with — clear skies, 78°F, and conditions that should have both the dirt and turf playing fast. That's good news for speed horses on the main track and for turf runners who appreciate a firm surface under their feet.
Nine races are on the board today, spanning maiden claimers, allowance company, and a cluster of Starter Optional Claiming events that give us some real pace scenario intrigue to dig into. The card spans sprints as short as 4½ furlongs all the way out to a mile and 70 yards on the turf, so there's plenty of variety to build tickets around.
Our TrackWiz analysis identified strong signals in several spots today — including a couple of plays where the morning line may be leaving some value on the table. Let's get into it.
Best Bets
Race 1
Maiden Claiming · 4 1/2 fur · Dirt
A wide-open maiden claimer over 4½ furlongs where experience is minimal across the board, but one horse separates himself with an actual speed figure on the sheet.
Weaver is the clear class of this field on paper — he's the only horse in the race carrying a meaningful average speed figure of 55, which in a field full of zeros is a significant edge. Paco Lopez takes the mount, and the Hall of Fame rider rarely wastes his time on longshots in maiden claiming openers. Trainer Cathal A. Lynch has him primed for this spot, and at 3/1 on the morning line, the TrackWiz rating of 56.67 tops the field. In a sprint where pace could be ragged, a horse with any prior form experience has a built-in advantage.
Albali draws attention as the second-highest-rated horse in the field at 55 and goes with Jose A. Batista aboard for trainer Jorge Delgado. While there's no speed figure on record, the 4/1 morning line suggests connections believe he's ready to run, and in a weak maiden claimer, projection and training reports can carry more weight than past numbers.
Little Deuce at 5/1 is a reasonable exotics anchor for the third slot. Trainer Jamie Ness is a name worth noting at Delaware Park — he runs a competitive stable and tends to have his first-out horses ready. The 53.33 TrackWiz rating edges out the lower half of the field, making Little Deuce a solid safety net in trifecta coverage.
Race 2
Maiden Claiming · 6 fur · Dirt
Hard Freeze looms as a dominant favorite in this maiden claimer, but the real question is whether anyone in the field can mount a serious challenge or if this turns into a solo procession.
Hard Freeze is a cut above in this spot — a TrackWiz rating of 89.71 dwarfs everyone else in the field, and trainer Jamie Ness has him going postward at 6/5 on the morning line. He's already shown a 53 average speed figure, which matches the best in the race, but it's the overall profile and rating that screams class separation. Martin Chuan gets the call, and when Ness sends a horse out this short-priced in a maiden claimer, you pay attention. This looks like a wire-to-wire type on the front end.
Crazy Miles at 4/1 is a first-time starter from the Gregory D. Sacco barn, which gives him some intrigue — Sacco is a respected trainer who rarely throws debut horses in without a solid foundation. His TrackWiz rating of 55 leads all horses without a recorded speed figure, and he lines up as the most logical beneficiary if Hard Freeze has any issues breaking from post 3.
Mack Runs Philly at 6/1 is an interesting third-slot candidate. No recorded speed figures, but the TrackWiz rating of 51.67 is respectable for this level, and trainer Edward T. Allard is a Delaware Park regular who knows how to target these spots. Carol Cedeno rides, and she's a sharp judge of pace who can put a horse in the right position early.
Race 3
Maiden Special Weight · 5 fur · Dirt
A Maiden Special Weight sprint where the top two on the morning line are separated by a whisker in the ratings, setting up a genuine duel between a pair of well-connected first-timers.
Cha Cha Baby draws the nod at 8/5 with the top TrackWiz rating in the field at 59.0, and trainer Gary Capuano — a longtime Delaware Park fixture — clearly has confidence in this filly. Yedsit Hazlewood picks up the mount, and Capuano's first-out starters tend to be ready when they show up in MSW company. In a five-furlong dash, the horse that breaks cleanly and gets comfortable early is often the winner, and Cha Cha Baby's profile suggests she has the raw ability to do just that.
Whitten Way is a fascinating second pick here — she's trained by the same Gary Capuano barn as Cha Cha Baby, and both connections know what they have. With a 58.33 TrackWiz rating and the second-lowest morning line in the field at 2/1, she's expected to run. Emanuel Rosario is a capable rider, and if the two Capuano horses run one-two, that's not a coincidence — it's a stable sending both barrels.
Aminetta at 4/1 rounds out a solid exotics ticket under trainer Michael R. Matz, a Hall of Famer who rarely puts a horse in a spot he doesn't think it can handle. Her 55.0 TrackWiz rating is third-best in the field, and Julio A. Hernandez keeps the mount. At a price, she's worth using in trifecta boxes to hedge against any surprise result from the Capuano duo.
The first three races on the card are open to all TrackWiz readers, and they offer a nice cross-section of what today's card has to offer. In Race 1, Weaver tops our ratings at 56.67 in a short 4½-furlong maiden claimer — a compact sprint where breaking cleanly from the gate is half the battle. Race 3's Cha Cha Baby draws our attention in a 5-furlong Maiden Special Weight on the dirt, where the MSW field often conceals a lightly raced horse with a bigger ceiling than the others.
But the marquee free pick is Hard Freeze in Race 2 — a 6-furlong maiden claimer where our model spits out a 89.71 rating, the highest of any free race on the card. At 6/5 on the morning line, the market already respects this one, but that rating suggests the short price may still be worth accepting. On a fast, dry track like we're expecting today, don't be surprised if this race gets wire-to-wired.
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Bottom line for today at Delaware Park: Hard Freeze is the standout free pick with one of the highest ratings on the card, and Flee at 6/1 in Race 4 is the value angle worth keeping an eye on. The turf should be playing well in this heat, and the pace setups across the back half of the card make for a compelling multi-race sequence. Full card analysis, pace projections, and exotic breakdowns are waiting for you — check out /pricing to unlock everything. Good luck today.