Belle Royale’s connections revel in triumph upon victory in the Gamely Stakes
Belle Royale has given her connections more than one reason to celebrate after winning the Grade 1, $250,000 Gamely Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf at Hollywood Park on Tuesday, 29th May.
This was the first graded win for Val Royal’s four-year-old bay/brown filly out of mare, Kahyasi Moll and something equally or more impressive is the fact that she was successful in extending the winning streak to five.
The connections are rejoicing at their luck as they got to defend the Stakes for another year. It was a consecutive win for the jockey Joel Rosario and the trainer Simon Callaghan.
Last year Dubawi Heights brought back the honour for the team after settling the race in a minute and :47.29 seconds.
The four-year-old Irish filly, Belle Royale, was in no hurry to cover ground and stayed in the rear for the major chuck of the race. However, towards the final turn of the race she went all out and geared up entering into the stretch while being guided to
race towards the outside.
She became prominent in the final furlong and swept past Quiet Oasis and Capital Plan. She turned the fate of the race around just towards the concluding strides to the wire.
Belle Royale went through the wire in a minute and :47.84 seconds as Quiet Oasis qualified as the runner up and was just half a length ahead from Capital Plan who went on reserving the third position.
Belle Royale’s earnings now total to $358,231 with her profile displaying ten wins and seven second scores out of twenty-six races of which she became a part of.
“She came home fast, but she was doing it easy,’’ said Rosario. “She just keeps it going. That’s just the way she runs. The last quarter of a mile she really turns it on.
“I think she’s a really nice filly. I don’t see any reason she won’t go longer – a mile and a quarter or a mile and three-eighths.’’
The four-year-old filly claimed her seasonal debut on 7th April in the American Beauty Stakes at Santa Anita over a mile. She took a minute and :33.09 seconds to race through the wire. She set A Jealous Woman second and taking up the third slot
was Go Forth North.
She has turned into a remarkable filly with an unmatched and an unbeaten record that shouts of her ability and potential to outperform herself. The connections have not made any future plans for the four-year-old public.
Robert J. Frankel is the only trainer who has won the Gamely Stakes back to back twice. In 2007 he won it with Citronnade and then was gifted with the honour in 2008 by Precious Kitten. Before this he accomplished the dual win in 1992 with Metamorphose and
then in 1993 he saddled Toussaud for the race.
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