Royal Delta after her emphatic 2011 season topped the 3-year-old division with an Eclipse Award as the champion 3-year-old filly
It was evident after her only start in 2010 that Royal Delta will go on to achieve big things in her racing career, after her impressive victory in her maiden special weight race. Came 2011 and Royal Delta lived up to the high expectations as she downed 4 races out of her 11 starts, and with two placed finishes, she was awarded rightly for all the hard work done, on and off the track, by being declared as the champion 3-year-old filly, garnering 243 of the total 248 first-place votes casted.
She kicked off 2011 with a disappointing 9th place finish in the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, but little did anyone know that the Kentucky bred daughter of Empire Maker will dramatically turn her season around.
Warmed up to the task with a victory in an allowance race at Keeneland, Royal Delta was then introduced to graded stakes company.
The Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan was used as the launching pad for the filly as she never looked back after her first grade 2 win.
It’s Tricky and Plum Pretty got the better of Royal Delta in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, where the eventual champion finished third, but shook up the 3-year-old division by winning the most important race of the division, the Grade 1 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga.
She was then against an older filly, Havre de Grace, in the Grade 1 Beldame Stakes, and the challenge was accepted whole heartedly, but Havre de Grace is the Horse of the Year for a reason as she kept Royal Delta at bay to win the race, as our protagonist finished a well run second.
Beldame was used as prep for the major race of her career, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic, and Royal Delta, under J Lezcano, conjured up a scintillating run to win the race on 4 November, 2011, at Churchill Downs.
Going into the New Year with new owners, when she went through the ring at Keeneland November Sale, commanding an $8.5 million winning bid from Ben Leon Jr’s. Besilu Stables.
Right now Royal Delta is gearing up for her next assignment to run in the Group 1 $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Race course on 31 March, 2012.
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