Royal Delta wraps up championship with Ladies’ Classic defense

Royal Delta proved herself the true Queen of American racing on Friday (Charlie Bernhardt/Horsephotos.com)

Besilu Stable’s Royal Delta proved herself a true champion on Friday when
successfully defending her title in the Grade 1, $1,818,000

Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic at Santa Anita Park despite being taken out of
her usual game.

“Spectacular,” trainer Bill Mott stated. “She broke sharply and was out on
the lead and just ran the race that way. She’s a talented mare to be able to run
well and win no matter how the race develops. I was a little concerned when they
were throwing up those fractions, but she kept going and ran them off their
feet.”

Three-year-old Questing, the expected pacesetter in the 1 1/4-mile contest,
broke slow and immediately fell to the back of the eight-distaffer field before
being pulled up and vanned off. Jockey Mike Smith didn’t panic as the normally
rallying Royal Delta moved up to take command entering the turn. The dark bay
filly led the way in :22 3/5, :45 4/5 and 1:09 4/5 while Love and Pride stalked
to her outside.

Entering the stretch, Love and Pride began to fade and was easily swamped by
first Include Me Out and then My Miss Aurelia. All the while Royal Delta kept
motoring on the front end while saving ground on the rail. My Miss Aurelia
loomed large in the lane but could never catch the relentless Royal Delta, who
completed 1 1/8 miles on the fast main track in 1:48 4/5.

“She jumped extremely well today and her best races are whenever you can let
her do her thing, let her get into her stride and normally that’s laying a bit
off the pace,” Smith said. “She broke so well today. Johnny Lopez, the man that
had me in the gate, did a great job with her. He had her standing great and when
you have a mare with a stride that she has and as talented as she is the best
thing to do is stay out of her way and that’s what I did. We were cruising right
along but she was doing well within herself.”

Mike Smith achieved a record 16th win in a Breeders’ Cup event when taking the Ladies’ Classic aboard Royal Delta (Jim Tyrrell/Horsephotos.com)

“That’s how easy she does things, she has no wasted action, everything moves
so fluidly. She actually waits for competition, and once they get to her she
locks on them and seems like she can get around them again.”

Royal Delta handed Smith a prize of his own in addition to rewarding her many
backers with payouts of $5.40, $3.60 and $2.60 as the 8-5 favorite.

“It’s incredible to be with the riders on this list; truly an honor,” Smith
said after recording his 16th Breeders’ Cup victory to becoming the winningest
rider in the series. “I hope to be around a few more years to add to it.

“I really had a lot of confidence in her. She trains the way that she ran.
Just amazing,” he added.

My Miss Aurelia was game to finish 1 1/2 lengths behind Royal Delta in second
while suffering her first loss in seven races. Winner of last year’s Breeders’
Cup Juvenile Fillies, and subsequently named champion two-year-old filly off
that score, the Smart Strike sophomore entered the Ladies’ Classic owning just
two starts this year — a three-length win in the Mandys Gold and a head score
in the Grade 1 Cotillion.

Royal Delta dug in when challenged in the Ladies’ Classic stretch (Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos)

Include Me Out finished another 1 1/4 lengths back in third and was followed
under the wire by Grace Hall, Love and Pride, Awesome Feather and Class
Included.

“I was never comfortable,” trainer Chad Brown admitted about champion Awesome
Feather’s effort. “In a race like this, a quarter of a mile in, and I’m not
comfortable with the way my horse is moving, I’m in trouble.

“Not to make any excuses, but she probably didn’t care for the surface today.
She’s much better than that. I can see her getting beat; it’s a star-studded
field. But she was never really in the race and that’s not like her. She’s been
in every race she’s ever been in. She’s been there, somewhere up front. The
jockey felt the same way. We’ll have to regroup.”

“She was just never comfortable today,” jockey Jeffrey Sanchez concurred. “At
the three-eighths pole I asked her and she didn’t really want to go. She never
got into the bit and usually she does.”

Questing was reportedly doing fine following the race despite being vanned
off.

My Miss Aurelia (middle) and Include Me Out (left) reputed themselves well against Royal Delta (Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos)

Royal Delta wrapped up her four-year-old campaign in style in the Ladies’
Classic, taking four of seven races while placing in two others this season. The
Empire Maker filly’s only off-the-board placing came when trying the synthetic
Tapeta at Meydan in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup in late March.

That race followed Royal Delta’s season-opening second in the Grade 3 Sabin,
and the dark bay was given plenty of time to recover from her overseas
experience before running in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap at Churchill
Downs on June 16, which she won by eight lengths.

Following a gutsy neck score in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap, where she
conceded nine pounds to runner-up Tiz Miz Sue, Royal Delta was upset by Love and
Pride in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Handicap at Saratoga. Washy in the post
parade, she missed by only a half-length but never looked a serious threat to
win during the stretch run.

Royal Delta found herself in the Ladies’ Classic winner’s circle for a second straight year (Horsephotos.com)

“The decision was very much influenced by Mr. Mott, and we always thought
that she would always run in the Ladies’, but we had the option of
pre-registering her for the Classic, which we did, in case things happened and
we changed our minds,” Benjamin Leon of Besilu Stables explained in regards to
Royal Delta being pre-entered to both the Classic and Ladies’ Classic. “The
original decision was to have her run in the Ladies’ Classic, which she did.

“Our plan is to run her for next year,” he added. “Our intention is to take
her to Dubai to give her one more shot with Mike Smith in order to become the
world champ at the Dubai World Cup and we will take it one day at a time and
make decisions after that World Cup.”

“She has to remain healthy and we’ve got big plans for her, but, I don’t
know, if there is ever a filly that you could shoot for the moon with I would
say it would probably be one like her,” Mott remarked.

Royal Delta is almost guaranteed the Eclipse Award as champion older female (Stanley Tulis/Horsephotos.com)

Royal Delta was campaigned by her breeder, Palides Investments N.V. Inc.,
through last year’s Breeders’ Cup triumph then passed through the sales ring for
the first time just three days after that score. She sold for a sale-topping
$8.5 million at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale to Benjamin Leon’s
Besilu Stables, which was the most ever paid for a horse in training at
Keeneland November and the most paid for any horse at the sale since broodmare
Playful Act brought $10.5 million in 2007.

The previous Keeneland record for a
horse in training was the $6.1 million paid by Aaron Jones for the graded
stakes-winning colt Half Ours in 2006.

The Kentucky-bred Royal Delta descends from a black-type rich family as a
daughter of the A.P. Indy mare Delta Princess. That one would capture six
stakes, including three Grade 3 contests, during her time on track while racking
up nearly $750,000 in earnings. Royal Delta’s second dam is Group 2 victress
Lyphard’s Delta, who would go on in the breeding shed to produce Grade/Group 1
winners Biondetti and Indy Five Hundred.

Lyphard’s Delta is herself a daughter of Proud Delta, who was honored as
champion older female in 1976, and counts as a full brother Grade 3 hero and
sire Proud Debonair.