The Royal Delta (Grade 2)- $200.000 Purchase
GP- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Sixteenth on the Dirt
February 13, 2016
Saturday we will be hosting the first ever Royal Delta at GP. This Grade 2 has never been run at HRP before, so a field of six will have their opportunity to say that they were the first ever winner of the event. It’s not immediately obvious as to what stake, if any, this may be replacing on our calendar. It looks like this will be a competitive and balanced race, so let’s meet our entries for the first Royal Delta!
#1- Aguichant (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by R M Hernandez)- Excellent bloodlines on this one, not just Il Miglio Fabro as her sire. Her dam, Fast Nevada has also produced the likes of Silver Nevada (a BC Champion in 2011), and Aldonza. Aguichant is proudly following along those lines, with over $380.000 in career earnings. In May of 2015, she was purchased by the current trainer and not too long after that, Aguichant participated in bigger and better races. Two races ago in November, she finally picked up a graded win as she captured the Grade 3 Go For Wand at AQU. She is not going to be my top pick in this race, but she is capable of getting it done.
#2- Shes A Dog (Wolfs Den, ridden by J Lezcano)- She raced fifteen times during 2015, winning her first and last race of the calendar year. Unfortunately, she did not win any of those middle races, and those were the races the trainer would have liked to have had. The wins were in optional claimers, but she had several starts in graded stakes between those wins, such as the Grade 1 Ashland, and she always seemed to come up a little short. This will be the first time since the Ashland in April that she has run this distance on dirt, but she has made several starts on the grass at this distance. The theme of her results still seems to be the same, that she can get close, but just can’t get over the hump of winning a graded stake.
#3- Ocala Express (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by J J Gonzales)- This Crown Quest filly is coming off a fantastic 2015 that saw her hit the board in eight of nine starts, and half of them ended up with a trip to the winners circle. She had a good run in FL-bred races near the end of the year, taking the FL Sire Stakes- Meadow Star and the Millions Distaff, for $150.000 and $75.000, respectively. After coming up short in the Grade 2 Santa Monica three weeks ago, Ocala Express adds some distance and faces a field that will not be as strong as it was in that race.
#4- Hydro (Team 7 Illusions, ridden by J J Castellano)- The immaculately bred filly by Charley Farley looks like she will be the one to beat in this race. In a highly successful 2015, Hydro won three of nine races while accumulating $792.000 in earnings. Those races were against the best of the business, including a second place finish in the Grade 1 Acorn in June, then just missing in the Grade 3 Iowa Oaks, before winning the Grade 2 IND Oaks. Later in the year, she would finish second in the $1,000.000 Cotillion at PRX. This string of results allowed her to earn a spot in the BC Distaff at KEE, where she would finish 6th out of 14. Today, she makes her 2016 debut and this looks like a great spot.
#5- Well In Line (Mb Stables, ridden by J Rosario)- The four year old filly that has Commanding’s dam in her bloodline will look to rebound after a disappointing second place finish in an allowance at FG. In 2015, she had two wins and a pair of second over her four starts, and many were seen in NY-bred events. In October, she participated in the $250.000 Empire Distaff, but ran into La Gran Kirky that day and could only finish second. You have to be impressed by that effort, which was run at the same distance that the Royal Delta will be at. Possibly the allowance at FG was just a tune up race, but she’s going to have to be back in Empire Distaff form here.
#6- Devil Wears Prada (Maverick, ridden by E S Prado)- It has been a glorious career for this filly, who boasts just a dime over $1,300.000 in career earnings, a career that spans 24 races. She is a four time graded stake winner, and if any one was beginning to doubt that she was losing it, she picked up that fourth win just two races ago in the Grade 3 Cardinal Handicap. Her last three races have seen her be on the turf, and it was looking like the trainer was heading in that direction with her placement, so it is a little bit of a surprise to see her back on the main track. She is going to have to be a lot better then she was the last time she was on dirt to get a win here.
Prediction: 4-3-1-2
— NS
Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES
