Dubai: No filly or mare has won the Dubai World Cup (G1) since it was first staged in 1996. Only nine have tried over the years, with just one finishing in the top three, the Japanese-trained mare To The Victory, who took second behind Captain Steve in 2001.
History is not on her side, as Royal Delta tried to become the first female to win the valuable contest. The formbook is, however, very much in her favour. A dual winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at home, she is one of the best horses going into this year’s World Cup. And her prep race for the big day was simply breathtaking. This horse comes to Dubai at the top of her game.
Royal Delta, the best female thoroughbred in North America, but a runner yet to beat male rivals, also came to the Dubai World Cup last year. Representing trainer Bill Mott, who handled the outstanding champion Cigar — winner of the inaugural running of the World Cup in 1996 — she was bound to get a lot of attention. She failed to show her true colours in the race, however, and after a poor beginning to the contest, she trailed in ninth of 13 runners, beaten by almost nine lengths by Godolphin’s surprise winner, Monterosso.
This certainly was an off-day for the strong daughter of Empire Maker and it is interesting that Mott has decided to have a second crack at the World Cup with her. Royal Delta had strong form in the book when coming to Meydan a year ago, and it is even stronger now. She enjoyed another super season in the US in 2012, and rounded her campaign off with two impressive wins. First she gained a runaway success in the Beldame Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, where she beat fellow Grade One winner It’s Tricky by nine and a quarter lengths, and a next she gained a dominating win in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic (G1) at Santa Anita, where she passed the winning post one and half lengths in front of My Miss Aurelia (juvenile fillies’ champion in 2011).
Her Ladies’ Classic win was very much a tactical success by her rider Mike Smith. Royal Delta met the best field she had ever faced at the Breeders’ Cup, and one ‘invisible’ rival was hiding between the cards and threatening to make things even more difficult for her, namely ‘lack of pace’. Royal Delta is not short on speed, but it is her stamina that is her main asset.
The race did not have any typical speed horses, and a slow pace seemed likely. Such a scenario would work against Royal Delta, so Smith played his trump ace early. Already before the first turn, as he sent Royal Delta directly to the lead, she relaxed nicely in front, while at the same time setting solid fractions. Turning for home, she was still full of running, though also sure to come under attack. Smith asked her for a bit more and she responded, stretched out and increased the tempo a notch. The high-class three-year-old My Miss Aurelia, herself a Breeders’ Cup winner a year earlier and one of four other Grade One winners in hot pursuit, ran her heart out for second, holding the place by one and a quarter lengths from Include Me Out.
Hefty price tag
Royal Delta was bought for $8.2 million (Dh30 million) by her current owners, Besilu Stables, at the Keeneland Sales in November 2012, just four days after her first Breeders’ Cup success. With such a hefty price tag, it would have been understandable if she had been retired to stud after last year’s Breeders’ Cup, but her connections are sportingly keeping her in training, and the World Cup is obviously one of the main reasons for such a decision. Mott has long maintained that Royal Delta has the class to win the World Cup, and he was all smiles after she had gone through her prep race for Dubai at Gulfstream Park on February 17.
Many would argue she had little to beat, as she lined up for the Sabin Stakes (G3) over 8.5 furlongs on the dirt track, but the way she did it is what matters. Royal Delta absolutely crushed her rival and came home five lengths in front of All For The, who was three and a half lengths better than the third-place filly, Grace Hall. Royal Delta was conceding weight to all of her four rivals and she looked as good as ever — if not better than ever.
The Sabin Royal Delta’s tenth win from 16 career outings. She has finished second or third on four occasions, and her earnings now stand at $3.7 million. Royal Delta was voted Champion Older Filly at the 2012 Eclipse Awards, and she was crowned Champion three-year-old filly in 2011.
Like Animal Kingdom, Royal Delta has also won over a Polytrack surface in the States. She gets a 2kg sex allowance versus the boys 1.9kg, and if Royal Delta runs right up to her best, not many of them will be able to live with her.
Geir Stabell is the publishing editor of Globeform
