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The Grade 1 Delaware Handicap at Delaware Park on Saturday is sandwiched among four playable supporting races. The Del Cap is slotted as race 9 at 5:15 p.m. Eastern. It is preceded by the $50,000 Hockessin Stakes and a third-level optional-claiming race and is followed by the Grade 3 Kent Stakes and the $50,000 Carl Hanford Memorial.There are rolling daily doubles and pick threes throughout the five-race sequence and a pick four that begins with the Hockessin and concludes with the $200,000 Kent. The card will be streamed live on DRF.com.The Kent, a 1-1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-olds, is about as wide open as an eight-horse race can be and matches horses from the barns of Steve Asmussen, Chad Brown, Mike Maker, Shug McGaughey, Bill Mott, and Todd Pletcher.Converge, trained by Brown, is the only graded stakes winner in the field and has made his last four starts in graded company. Four-time winner Keystoneforvictory, trained by Maker, is the only horse in the field with more than two victories. And American Patriot, conditioned by Pletcher, has the best last-out Beyer Speed Figure, an 89 he earned in winning a first-level optional claimer going the Kent distance at Belmont Park.Motts runner, Mighty Mo, did not run his best race last out while finishing fourth in the Paradise Creek Stakes at Belmont in May. He tracked a loose-on-the-lead Too Discreet in that seven-furlong grass sprint and then flattened out in the stretch.Too Discreet set tepid fractions of 23.05 and 46.07 seconds before coming home quickly with a final three furlongs in 34.21 en route to a final clocking of 1:20.28. Mighty Mo may fare better in this longer race that should be run in a more even manner. He figures to be either on the front end or tracking Keystoneforvictory.Two starts back, Mighty Mo finished second by a neck to Highland Sky in the Woodhaven Stakes at Aqueduct. Highland Sky has since finished second by a neck to Camelot Kitten in the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge at Belmont Park and second by a neck to Deauville last Saturday in the $1.25 million Belmont Derby.Three starts ago, Mighty Mo won a Gulfstream Park maiden race over Sir Dudley Digges, who has since won the $1 million Queens Plate for Maker.Edgar Prado, who won the $200,000 Robert Dick Memorial at Delaware last Saturday, has the mount on Mighty Mo. It would be fitting if Mott were to win the Kent, as last week a horse he trains, Suffused, was shipped to Delaware but had to be scratched from the Dick Memorial after the tracks third-party Lasix administrator failed to treat her with the anti-bleeding medication.Inspector Looney, trained by McGaughey, and Madtap, trained by Asmussen, should both appreciate the added distance of the Kent. In their most recent starts, they closed well to be second going a mile in allowance company. Inspector Looney overcame a very wide trip in his race.* Chief Istan merits attention in the Hockessin, a six-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up. He came into the Mr. Prospector at Monmouth Park last out undefeated in three starts but was finished early and badly beaten. Based with Larry Jones at Delaware, he has since worked five furlongs and may well return to form Saturday.* Catcha Rising Star finished second to the graded-stakes-winning Onus in a course-record performance at Belmont while making her 4-year-old debut. She is well spotted by Graham Motion in this 7-1/2-furlong optional claimer on turf.* The late-running Kid Cruz will be favored in the Hanford Memorial, a 1-1/16-mile dirt race for 3-year-olds and up.Kid Cruz had won two stakes in a row before finishing seventh in the Grade 2 Brooklyn going 1-1/2 miles on Belmont Stakes Day. Kid Cruz can be a bit lazy at times, but jockey Jose Ortiz knows him well and is sure to keep him properly motivated in the Hanford.* Warrioroftheroses is an all-or-nothing type of runner. He comes into the Hanford off an eight-length optional-claiming victory at Delaware for trainer Damon Dilodovico and is sure to gun for the lead.* Bodhisattva broke a seven-race losing streak dating back to his Federico Tesio Stakes victory in April 2015 while being reunited with trainer Jose Corrales last out. Bodhisattva rallied from 12 lengths back in the Pimlico optional claimer to win by 3-3/4 lengths and earn a career-best 94 Beyer.I was expecting him to run well last time, but I wasnt expecting him to really come out the way he did, Corrales said. I wanted to make one move, and the jockey rode him the way I wanted, and it was a good result.Taylor Hole rides again Saturday. Lance Alworth Youth Jersey . 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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Growing up in rugby-crazed New Zealand, Paul Lasike dreamed one day of sharing a stadium with the countrys powerhouse national team, the All Blacks.In New Zealand, man, the All Blacks -- thats the team, Lasike said. You see those guys on buses, on the television news, at the train stations -- you see their pictures everywhere. They are the idols that everyone looks up to.Lasike, 26, finally gets to fulfill his lifelong quest, albeit in roundabout fashion, when the All Blacks travel to Chicago for a match versus Ireland on Saturday.A one-time star rugby player at Brigham Young University, Lasike made the switch to American football while in college, a decision that proved wise.Lasike (pronounced luh-SEE-kay), a native of Auckland, is currently a fullback on the Chicago Bears practice squad. He recently completed a stretch on Chicagos active roster, but the team had to make room for a defensive player coming back from injury prior to the Bears Oct. 20 game.As luck would have it, the All Blacks will be in Chicago the same week the Bears have their bye. So Lasike plans to be front and center for the match at Soldier Field, the Bears home stadium.I was so pumped to find out the All Blacks were playing in Chicago, man, Lasike said. My dad is coming out [from Brisbane, Australia] for the All Blacks game. He is so excited. I got box tickets, so he and I are going there. Its going to be a blast.I brought the family over for a game last year when I was on the Bears practice squad. It was their first football game. They had no idea what was going on, but they enjoyed the American culture, like the big lights and the fireworks. Its Americas game, you know. So they enjoyed that experience.But for the Lasikes -- Paul is the ninth of 10 children in a Kiwi-Tongan household -- playing in the NFL isnt the ultimate accomplishment.My family would be more impressed if I was an All Black, Lasike said with a grin.They grew up with rugby. When I made the NFL for the first couple of weeks, I Skyped my parents, and they were like, Oh, thats great. It wasnt like they went, Wow, thats crazy. I dont think they realize how big of a deal it is. If I was an All Black, they would be blown away.Still, Lasike was no slouch on the rugby pitch. BYU rugby coach David Smyth called Lasike the hardest-working player he has ever coached. Smyth first laid eyes on Lasike after he left New Zealand to enroll as an exchange student at Highland High School, a U.S. rugby powerhouse in Salt Lake City, for his senior year.Hes a phenomenal rugby player, said Smyth, who has guided BYU to five national championships. He has natural ability and a great skill set. On top of that, hes as hard a worker as weve ever had at BYU. When you add work ethic to the natural ability and skill set he already had, that equals success.Theres no doubt in my mind he could have played professional rugby somewhere. Hes a fairly humble kid, but hes going to work and work and work. ... Trust me when I tell you that Paul is one of the niicest and most humble kids off the field, but on the field he will rip your head off if you are standing between him and what he wants.ddddddddddddasikes path toward the NFL started when Jay Omer, then the BYU football strength and conditioning coach, approached Lasike in the Cougars weight room.Omer felt Lasike possessed the tools to play football, but Lasike was skeptical.I was nervous to play football at first, Lasike said. Football is like an ego sport ... so I was kind of nervous to meet the football players. It was a little scary at first. The culture is a lot different in rugby. Its a lot less hype in rugby. Its weird, man. Its a totally different type of camaraderie.Lasike used the movie Remember the Titans to explain.When we watched it growing up in New Zealand, we were like, Wow, the coaches yell at their players to get them going. I never had a rugby coach yell at me. They would just explain things. If you fumble the ball in football, its a huge deal. If you fumble the ball in rugby, its not such a big deal. Getting after players and coaching style are the big differences. And, of course, the conditioning. Im a lot heavier now than when I played rugby.When Lasike returned from serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints after his freshman year, Smyth and Omer brought him to meet Bronco Mendenhall, BYUs head coach at the time. Paul came out for the team and he was just impressive in his size and his speed, said Mendenhall, who is now head coach at Virginia. It appeared that since he was already used to carrying the football the running back position would be a good spot for him.He was a scout-team player to begin with when we were teaching him the rules. We were first, second or third in every defensive category that year, and our defensive players did not want to tackle him or hit him because he was wreaking havoc on them as he was so tough.Lasike found a role on BYUs offense in a matter of weeks.Heres the thing about Paul, Mendenhall said. Hes an amazing piano player as well. We used to have devotionals before the games, home or away, and he would play the piano beautifully by ear. He is so kind, and with that English accent, he is the absolute gentleman. But when he is on the field, he is just ferocious.Lasike ended his BYU career with 843 rushing yards in 38 games (19 starts). He went undrafted in 2015 but signed with the Arizona Cardinals before joining the Bears, where he patiently awaits his next opportunity.I never try to take how far Ive come for granted, Lasike said. I know it can be cut off at any time. I always approach every day in the NFL like it is my last, because I know how huge it is. Not many people get to be in this situation. I have friends and stuff who I grew up playing rugby with, and theyre like, Bro, I cant believe you are there and Im here. So it kind of makes me realize this is a cool deal. ' ' '