How to bet the Obeah Stakes

The Wednesday feature at Delaware Park is the $125,000 Obeah S. showcases a dozen fillies and mares, signed on for the 1 1/16-mile dirt tussle, and the two-turn affair is an especially competitive one from a handicapping perspective. 

Obeah Wagers

• $20 win and place #12 Miss New York ($40)
• $1 trifecta key 12 with 3,5,9,10 ($12)

Despite drawing widest in the field, I feel that #12 Miss New York (10-1) will be a major player in the tilt at a big number. The four-year-old daughter of Good Magic was a stakes winner last summer and earned a lifetime-best 95 Brisnet Speed number in her second outing of 2024 when cruising home a fine winner of an allowance event at Laurel Park last time out. 

Conditioned by Jorge Delgado, the chestnut faced some quality runners as a sophomore with a few very good results among those races, and she appears to be ready to move forward this campaign. She has yet to run on this surface, but the Kentucky-bred has performed well at numerous venues, and I have a lot of confidence in her on Wednesday. 

The lass is not especially fast from the gate but does have a measure of tactical speed, and with a good amount of pace inside of her, the filly will likely receive a good stalking trip near midpack on the backside prior to putting in her best run in the stretch. Daniel Centeno comes in to retain the mount, and if Miss New York is anything close to her morning-line number, then I will be making a fairly aggressive play on her.

I will use a few contenders underneath my top pick, including the Ian Wilkes-trained #3 Magical Lute (12-1). The stakes heroine is inconsistent, but the daughter of Maclean’s Music can be strong on her best day. Delaware H. (G2) runner-up #9 Saddle Up Jessie (5-2), Regret S. queen #10 Reclusive (12-1), and #5 Ragtime Belle (12-1), who rolled home to a dominant allowance tally on the course in her latest venture, will also be tossed in my exotics wager.