Delaware Park News & Notes
Wilmington, Del., October 14, 2023 — Rose Petal Stables’ Copper Tax notched his fourth consecutive victory in the $110,750 Rocky Run Stakes at Delaware Park today.
With Mychel Sanchez aboard, the 2-year-old son of Copper Tax won by 6 ¾-lengths and returned $2.80 as the favorite in the field of ten. Thedingoateyobaby, with Jairo Rendon, finished second. It was another 1 1/2 -lengths back to Crazy Mason, with Samuel Marin, in third.
Copper Tax cut fractions of 47.81 for the half mile and 1:13.11 for the three-quarter miles before completing the one mile in 1:38.35 over a muddy track.
In his career debut, Copper Tax finished second beaten a neck on June 10 at Delaware Park. Since then, the Kentucky-bred trained by Gary Capuano has reeled off four straight victories by a combined margin of 23-lengths at Delaware Park. With the Rocky Run win, he raised his career earnings to $190,000.
Securing his first victory around two turns was an important stepping stone.
“He passed the test with flying colors and he finished pretty nice and quick,” said winning trainer Gary Capuano. “He is a pretty special horse. We are going to give him a little bit of a breather for now, but we will see how he comes out of this race and what comes up. But we are going to just enjoy this one for a little bit. He will run on anything and anytime we ask. He came into this race really good. We gave him a couple of nice long steady workouts around two turns and it did not seem to bother him. He is a pretty cool horse.”
The winning Rocky Run purse was boosted by $10,000 to $70,000 since he was Delaware Certified. Copper Tax was certified at Marlyn Meadow in Middletown, Delaware.
