St. Elias’ Teresa Z notched an impressive victory in the $100,000 Obeah takes at Delaware Park today. The Obeah Stakes is the local prep for the $750,000 Z Grade II Delaware Handicap to be run on July 14th.
With Daniel Centeno aboard, the 4-year-old daughter of Smart Strike won by a 2 3/4-lengths and returned $9.60 as the second choice in the field of eight. The local connection, You Know Too with Alex Cintron finished second. It was another half length further back Sneaky Betty with Jomar Torres in third. The 4-to-5 favorite, Tequilita with Edwin Gonzalez, finished fourth.
Trace of Grace with Forest Boyce cut early fractions of :48.13 for the half mile and 1:12.22 for the three-quarters mile before fading to fifth. The final time for the mile and an eighth was 1:49.33 over a fast main track.
The Obeah Stakes is the first victory of the year Teresa Z. Last year, the Kentucky-bred trained by Anthony Margotta, Jr. won the Grade III Monmouth Oaks and ran third in the Light Hearted Stakes at Delaware Park. She raised her career record to four wins from 14 starts with earnings of $201,000.