Wilmington, Del., May 5, 2025— When the 88th season of live racing begins at Delaware Park on Wednesday, May 14th, expect the barn of rising trainer Greg Compton to be a force.
Last year, the native of North Little Rock, Arkansas, had a career best meet in his seven seasons at Delaware Park and is coming off his best meet ever at his home state track at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, this winter.
“I am ready to get back,” said trainer Greg Compton. “Typically, our horses have gotten faster every time we change zip codes, so we are making preparations to hopefully have that happen again.”
At the conclusion of the Delaware Park meet in 2024, Compton finished sixth in the trainer standings with 14 wins. He followed by finishing fifth with 21 wins at the recently completed ultra-competitive Oaklawn Park meet.
“It has been one heck of a year so far, so hopefully we will continue the momentum into Delaware Park,” Compton said. “I expect us to have a good solid meet at Delaware. I think we could legitimately be in the top four of the standings similar to last year, but with a few more wins. We are still going to try to pick up a few at Oaklawn, so we should be coming to Delaware with between forty to fifty horses that we think will help the program from top to bottom pretty well.”
In 2023, he finished 11th with 13 wins at Delaware Park and he followed by finishing 11th with 14 wins at Oaklawn. He has come a long way since his first season at Delaware Park in 2017 when he recorded four winners and followed with only four winners at Oaklawn Park.
“Since 2021, when I picked up one of main clients Danny Brown, we have been on a steady rise,” he said. “In all honesty, it is all about having clients that are going to back you and support the program. We have tried to purchase some nice 2-year-olds. We have just not hit with the big one yet, but we have had some real solid horses. Also having owners who are willing to claim horses who we can possibly move up the ladder, but who are also willing to drop some if they do not quite turn out like we hope, has been an important part of our success.”
Two horses who best represent this approach are Mag Racing’s G W’s Girl, who was a $130,000 sale purchase, and John Holleman and Compton Racing’s Kinzie Queen, who was a $50,000 claim at Churchill Downs last year.
“The Delaware Oaks is a definite possibility for Kinzie Queen and that also might be G W’s Girl two turn debut as well,” he said. “We have several different options for those two. First on the list for G W’s Girl is the Miss Preakness (at Pimlico on May 17) and then we will possibly come back in the Delaware Oaks for her two-turn debut. The Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (at Pimlico on May 16) is a possibility for Kinzie Queen or we may just train her up to the Delaware Oaks.”
The mile and a sixteenth $300,000 Grade III Delaware Oaks will be run on June 14th as the co-feature on the inaugural Delaware Derby card.
Since being claimed, Kinzie Queen has posted a record of a win, two seconds and two thirds from seven starts. G W’s Girl has posted a record of three wins from five starts including a maiden victory at Delaware Park last year and a pair of six-furlong $150,000 stake wins at Oaklawn Park.
Another from the Compton barn to watch is Mark Dean, Mike Cohea and Compton Racing’s Auto Glide who won both of his outings at Delaware Park last season including the $175,000 Battery Park Stakes. The 5-year-old son of Tiznow has posted a record of five wins, a second and four thirds from 11 starts.
“Auto Glide has been knocking on the door,” he said. “After the Battery Park, we ran him in the Deputed Testamony and gave a him a little time off before the Claiming Crown where he did not really fire. So, we gave him some time off to get ready for Oaklawn where he has been running some very competitive races against some tough horses. He is coming into Delaware ready to go. We are hoping to find a couple of good overnight races for him to hopefully get him ready for the DTHA Governors Cup.”
While Compton is hoping to make an impact in Delaware Park stakes, also expect him to have strong starters in the maiden ranks.
“We have some very strong maidens and we are very high on them,” he said. “Without a doubt, Oaklawn is a very tough place to break a maiden. It is not an easy spot, but we have had several who have been competitive in some tough races. La Houligan, Meg’s Foxy Girl and Suitefourfourthree are all rising prospects who we expect to make an impact at Delaware.”
Other outfits planning on being stabled at Delaware Park for the 2025 live racing season include trainers: Edward Allard, Lynn Ashby, Nesvil Herman Bailon, Victor Barboza, Jr., Ken Black, Brett Brinkman, Keri Brion, Gary Capuano, Victor Carrasco Jr., Gary Contessa, Kelly Lynn Dieter, William Downing, Michael Gorham, Richard Hendriks, Blake Kelly, Steve Klesaris, Bruce Kravets, James Lawrence, Cathal Lynch, H. Graham Motion, Pedro Nazrio, Jamie Ness, Anthony Pecoraro, Pedro Posadas, Ben Perkins Jr., Kerri Raven, Renaldo Richards, Tim Ritchey, McLean Robertson, Kelly Rubley, Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon, Carlos Sepulveda, Mario Serey Jr., Andrew Simoff, Michael Simone, Michael Stidham, Eliot Sullivan and Karin Wagner.
2025 LIVE RACING DATES – The 88th live racing season will feature 75 days with opening day on May 14th closing day on Saturday, October 11th. Racing will be conducted on a Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday weekly format for most of the meet. Ten cards will be presented on the following Fridays: May 30th, June 6th, June 13th, July 4th, July 11th, July 18th, July 25th, August 1st, August 8th and August 15th. Live racing is not scheduled on Thursday, May 15th, Wednesday, September 17th and Wednesday, September 24th. Daily first race post time is set for 12:35 p.m.
Delaware Derby & Oaks Day is slated for June 14th, Live Exotic Animal Races will be on July 4th and DelCap weekend is September 27th & 28th.
