Shadowfax Stable's New York-bred Down Royal bested the boys with a furious inside rush to defeat Chief Justice by a neck in Wednesday's Grade 1, $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial at Saratoga Race Course.
The 8-year-old daughter of Alphabet Soup was piloted to her first graded victory by Bernard Dalton, husband of trainer Kate Dalton, closing from off the pace in the 2 1/16-mile test over the hurdles.
The victory came on the eve of the couple's 14th wedding anniversary, which the pair are honoring in true horseman fashion as they make their way home to South Carolina.
“We're celebrating on the I-81 going south,” said Kate Dalton, with a laugh. “Hopefully, we'll get to have a day somewhere along the way here pretty soon. We've gotten as far as North Carolina, so we're getting closer. The filly wants to know if we're there yet. Her nose keeps hanging out of the trailer.”
Dalton said the grey mare will enjoy a little down time after running her win streak to four, dating back to her first stakes score in the Randolph D. Rouse in August at Colonial Downs.
“She'll get a nice couple of days turned out lowkey in her paddock getting dirty,” Dalton said. “She cooled out real well yesterday and seems to be doing just fine.”
The Daltons, who also bred the mare, met in Saratoga 20 years ago when Kate was working for Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard and Bernard was riding out for Kiaran McLaughlin.
“We've had plenty of fun in Saratoga over the years,” Dalton said. “We met when Bernie was freelancing for a woman who was stabled in the annex on the backside of Jonathan's, so every day I'd finish up and be messing around in the shedrow and that's how we met.”
The pair have enjoyed an incredible journey together in racing, including a score with Diplomat in the 2017 Grade 1 New York Turf Writers Cup [now the Jonathan Sheppard]. They earned a $27,000 breeders' bonus for Wednesday's remarkable score with Down Royal, who launched her career on the flat with trainer Peter Pugh in July 2016 at the Spa. She finished off-the-board in a trio of starts on the NYRA flat circuit before graduating over the hurdles that November at Charleston.
Kate Dalton said the breeding came together almost by accident thanks to a smart score by the Bernard Dalton-piloted Italian Wedding in the 2013 Grade 1 New York Turf Writers Cup.
“We had campaigned the mare Miss Crown. She was a steeplechaser of ours and a New York-bred,” said Dalton. “When it came time to retire her, we had her in New York on Joe McMahon's farm and Bernie had just won the Turf Writers for Jonathan Sheppard on Italian Wedding, who was by Alphabet Soup. Coincidentally, the next year, Alphabet Soup went to stand at McMahons.”
When it came time to find the right stallion for Miss Crown, the answer was staring the Daltons in the face.
“Didn't Bernie just win a Grade 1 on one of them?” recalled Kate, with a laugh.
While Down Royal's flat career didn't pan out, Kate Dalton said they always knew she could have a steeplechase career as a backup plan.
“She was always a very good jumper,” Dalton said. “She was always going to be a steeplechase horse unless she lit up the board on the flat, which she definitely did not. We were jumping her over fences as a 2-year-old getting her ready to become a jumper.”
Down Royal's Grade 1 win was eight years in the making and it nearly didn't happen when the Daltons considered making her a broodmare at the end of last year.
“She'd just started getting really good last year and we thought about it and decided we'll go one more year,” Dalton said.
And after two wins in as many starts this season, it's safe to say the decision to keep racing was a good one although the breeding shed looms at year's end.
“She works well with a deadline,” joked Dalton. “Win lose or draw, this is it for her. She'll be nine next year and 10 before she has her first foal. It was a little slow getting there, but we got there in end. It's a steeplechase, you have to pace yourself and come running at the end.”
Dalton said she's not sure yet if Down Royal will return to the Spa for the Grade 1, $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard, a 2 3/8-mile test on August 17.
“It's a long trip,” Dalton said. “It's a thousand miles nearly from South Carolina to Saratoga and she's just up and run her eyeballs out and now a thousand miles home. I feel like it's a big ask to do it a second time. But if she comes out well and is in good form again, how could you not keep it in mind. It's a maybe.”
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