The Scatuorchio family of New Jersey, led by patriarch Jim Scatuorchio, celebrated Verrazano’s victory in New Jersey’s biggest race, the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational held at Monmouth.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Verrazano, a son of Scatuorchio-owned More Than Ready, crossed the wire 9¾ lengths in front of Bob Baffert’s Power Broker, making it the largest winning margin in Haskell history. With deep ties to the track and the state, the Scatuorchio family’s Let’s Go Stable donated a portion of the horse’s earnings to The Foundation to Save the Jersey Shore Inc., as many were still recovering from Hurricane Sandy.

• On a hot day met with large crowds, two-time champion Royal Delta romped to her second consecutive Delaware Handicap, upgraded to Grade 1 for its 76th renewal. Her 10¾-length margin was the largest in race history. Questions surfaced before the race as to whether taking Besilu Stables’ mare off Lasix would cause her downfall, but the Bill Mott trainee proved it didn’t matter one bit. 
  
  
• Rockport Harbor, the region’s leading sire, was euthanized at New Bolton Center Aug. 2 following complications of laminitis. The 11-year-old son of Unbridled’s Song was owned by Darley, where he stood before being moved to Pin Oak Lane Farm in New Freedom, Pa., for the 2013 breeding season. He had been booked to more than 100 mares his only season in the region. 
  
  
• After nine years of competition, 58 starts, eight Maryland-bred championship titles, three graded stakes wins (seven stakes in all) and $1,301,698, 11-year-old Heros Reward was retired by owners Bob Haynes’ Rob Ry Farm and Jayne Marie Slysz and trainer Dale Capuano. 
  “A lot of people use the expression ‘he’s one in a million’– he’s not one in a million,” said Haynes. “You never claim a 4-year-old horse for $20,000 out of a non-winners of two race and go on and win $1.3 million.The odds are about as slim as hitting the lottery or getting struck by lightning. It’s more like one in 50 million.”