Some outstanding turf distaffers have prevailed down the years in the GI Matriarch S., contested at Del Mar since the permanent closure of Hollywood Park in 2013. The late Bobby Frankel sent out the closely related Heat Haze (GB) (Green Desert) and Intercontinental (GB) (Danehill) to win in 2003 and 2004, respectively–after the race was shortened to a mile–and the honor roll is graced by the likes of Juddmonte's Ventura (Chester House), the globetrotting Miss Temple City (Temple City) and champion Uni (GB). The latter gave Chad Brown, Frankel's star pupil, his second Matriarch in 2018 and Sunday afternoon, Peter Brant's 'TDN Rising Star' Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom) made it five out of the last six runnings with a smashing defense of her title. It marked the first time the Matriarch has seen a repeat winner since Flawlessly (Affirmed) won three straight from 1991 to 1993.
Prohibitively favored off a 10th-place effort behind Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland Nov. 4, the blaze-faced chestnut was a bit tardy from the stalls and landed in fourth position as Hamwood Flier (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) was loose on the lead through a moderate opening couple of furlongs in :23.58, but she got aggressive beneath Mike Smith and covered an internal quarter-mile in a taxing :22.54.
Still as many as eight lengths clear as they raced around the turn, Regal Glory commenced her rally three wide with 2 1/2 furlongs to go, swallowed up the spent pacesetter with what has become her trademark turn of foot and sped clear. England's Rose (English Channel) took a three-way photo for second over course-and-distance GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Pizza Bianca (Fastnet Rock {Aus}). Hamwood Flier rounded out the superfecta.
“I had great respect for Mike's [Smith] filly, but there was nothing I could do about it then,” said the in-form Flavien Prat. “My mare had to run her race. Once she got going, I knew we were going to be all right.”
Brant acquired Regal Glory, theretofore a dual graded winner, for a joint sales-topping $925,000 out of the Paul Pompa dispersal at the 2021 Keeneland January sale and the mare earned back about half that investment at the races last year, capped by her season-ending victory in this event. Kept in training for a 6-year-old season, Regal Glory landed her seasonal debut in the GIII Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf in January, then outkicked favored stablemate Shantisara (Ire) (Coulsty {Fr}) to score by a length in Keeneland's GI Jenny Wiley S. in April.
“It was [Brant's] call to keep her in training this year,” Brown said after a record fifth Jenny Wiley that took him past Frankel and Bill Mott. “I probably would have bred her, and he said, 'No, she's in good form and I want to see her run another year. I have a feeling this is her year.'”
So much so that an Eclipse statuette just might be waiting for her in Florida come January.
To her Jenny Wiley, Regal Glory added the GI Just A Game S. and was second versus the males in the GI Fourstardave H. and again to the commonly owned, loose-on-the-lead stable companion 'Rising Star' In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the GI First Lady S. ahead of her Breeders' Cup try.
Assistant trainer Jose Hernandez confirmed Regal Glory had run her last race.
“We're going to miss her. We've had a lot of nice moments, a lot of nice races,” he said.
Pedigree Notes:
Regal Glory's dam Mary's Follies won the 2009 GIII Boiling Springs S. for the late John Forbes and was acquired privately by Pompa, for whom she posted her best victory in that year's GII Mrs. Revere S. while under the care of Rick Dutrow.
Her foal of 2012, Night Prowler carried the Pompa colors to a pair of scores at the graded level for Pompa and Brown, and Regal Glory's half-brother Cafe Pharoah did his part with a pair of Group 3 victories in Japan as a 3-year-old in 2020. Mary's Follies's current 2-year-old is the colt Ready To Connect (Connect), a maiden winner at Ta'if, Saudi Arabia, in his second career start this past July.
Mary's Follies was purchased by the BBA Ireland for $500,000 out of the aforementioned dispersal after aborting her Curlin foal and produced a full-brother to Cafe Pharoah this past February before visiting Into Mischief.
Sunday, Del Mar
MATRIARCH S.-GI, $401,500, Del Mar, 12-4, 3yo/up, f/m, 1mT, 1:33.60, fm.
1–REGAL GLORY, 123, m, 6, by Animal Kingdom
1st Dam: Mary's Follies (MGSW, $338,889), by More Than Ready
2nd Dam: Catch the Queen, by Miswaki
3rd Dam: Wave to the Queen, by Wavering Monarch
'TDN Rising Star'. ($925,000 5yo '21 KEEJAN). O-Peter M.
Brant; B-Paul P Pompa (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Flavien Prat.
$240,000. Lifetime Record: 23-13-6-0, $2,619,134. *1/2 to
Night Prowler (Giant's Causeway), MGSW, $535,682;
Cafe Pharoah (American Pharoah), MG1SW-Jpn, $3,414,646.
Werk Nick Rating: A++.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the
free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–England's Rose, 123, m, 6, by English Channel
1st Dam: Gingham and Lace (SP), by Kris S.
2nd Dam: In the Till, by Mr. Prospector
3rd Dam: Silent Account, by Private Account
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($35,000 RNA Wlg '16 KEENOV; $140,000
Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-Mercedes Stables LLC, West Point
Thoroughbreds, Scott Dilworth, Dorothy & David Ingordo &
Steve Mooney; B-St. George Farm LLC (KY); T-John A.
Shirreffs. $80,000.
3–Pizza Bianca, 120, f, 3, by Fastnet Rock (Aus)
1st Dam: White Hot (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Gwynn (Ire), by Darshaan (GB)
3rd Dam: Victoress, by Conquistador Cielo
($3,450,000 RNA 3yo '22 FTKNOV). O/B-B. Flay Thoroughbreds
(KY); T-Christophe Clement. $48,000.
Margins: 5 1/4, NO, HD. Odds: 0.60, 17.50, 13.00.
Also Ran: Hamwood Flier (Ire), Avenue de France (Fr), Dolce Zel (Fr), Bipartisanship (GB), Eddie's New Dream. Scratched: Gold for Kitten, Wakanaka (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
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