by Karen Briggs, WEG Media

CAMPBELLVILLE, ON – Going into Saturday night’s C$393,750 Milton Stakes at Mohawk racetrack, the connections of 4-year-old Darlin’s Delight have their eyes on the prize – especially since the prize will bring the mare’s earnings over the $2 million mark.

“Yeah, it’d be nice to make her a $2 million earner,” says trainer Jeff Stafford. “We drew an outside post, but that’s a minor problem. If she’s on her game, she can go with any of these mares, and the way she qualified, and the way she trained the other day, she should be on her game.

“She hasn’t missed too many checks in her career,” he adds. “I think she’s been out of the money only once or twice in her life.”

Darlin’s Delight, a daughter of Bettors Delight-Town Pro, has in fact had a stellar career so far, with 22 wins in 41 starts for her breeder/owners, the White Birch Farm of Allentown, New Jersey. This year alone, she has chalked up wins in the $201,500 Silk Stockings stake at Monticello Raceway, setting a new track record, and in the $225,000 Lady Liberty stake at the Meadowlands.

Having been given a bye into the Milton Stakes final, Darlin’s Delight finds herself the 5-1 second choice in the morning line, to the Casie Coleman trainee, Moving Pictures. She’ll have veteran driver Yannick Gingras in the bike, and Stafford says, “On the little tracks she’s so quick and so handy that you can come from just about anywhere with her, but on a big track like Mohawk, she’s better coming off a helmet.” A late charge from this highly credentialed mare could set up an exciting stretch duel in the Milton Stakes final. Post time is 9:46 p.m.