Big Cuddle powers clear to win inaugural Delaware Derby

Big Cuddle did more than win Delaware Park’s first Delaware Derby. He made the race look like it already belonged to him, sweeping past the field in the stretch to win the $300,000 stakes by four lengths on June 13.

The Gary Capuano colt, carrying 120 pounds under Yedsit Hazlewood, settled in the middle of the pack through the early stages of the 1 1/16-mile test on a fast track, then finished with authority when the real running started. He stopped the clock in 1:44.27, a time that did not threaten Delaware Park’s track record of 1:41.52 but still left little doubt about the margin between Big Cuddle and the rest. Out of the Woods and Sovereign Law were among the rivals in the field, but none could match the way Big Cuddle accelerated when Hazlewood asked.

That late punch mattered because it was not an out-of-nowhere upset. Big Cuddle had already won the Maryland Million Nursery Stakes as a 2-year-old and added the Sir Barton Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16 in 1:44.47 for 1 1/16 miles. The Delaware Derby gave him another stakes win in a season that has been building his profile one step at a time, and it confirmed that his ceiling is higher than a useful regional runner. He looks like a colt that can handle pace, traffic and class without needing everything to unfold perfectly.

The victory also gave Pocket 3’s Racing LLC a breakthrough stakes score on one of Delaware Park’s biggest summer cards. Delaware Park had set June 13 as Delaware Derby Day when it announced its 2026 live season, a 75-day meet in the track’s 89th year of live racing, and the first running now gives the event a horse worth circling when the calendar turns again next year. Big Cuddle, a 2023 Maryland-bred by Great Notion out of Frechette, was purchased for $30,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern Fall yearling sale, and his rise from that price tag to a Derby winner is the sort of story horse racing still sells best.

BloodHorse listed Big Cuddle’s record after the Delaware Derby at 10 wins from 34 starts with $372,689 in earnings. That kind of résumé, paired with the way he handled Delaware Park’s inaugural Derby, says this was not just a nice win. It was a colt announcing that he belongs in the conversation wherever the Mid-Atlantic stakes trail leads next.