Regal Glory closed her 2021 campaign with her first top-level score and she picked up right where she left off in her 2022 debut, capturing the inaugural GIII Pegasus F/M Turf S. Racing two wide, the chestnut bided her time near the back through a first half-mile in :48.03. Advancing up the outside four wide on the backstretch run, the heavy favorite charged clear in the lane under Jose Ortiz for a decisive victory.
“I was a little nervous early on because she didn't break that well, which she does sometimes,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Thankfully, Jose [Ortiz] knows her so well and she's so good that she was able to overcome it. He rode a beautiful Plan B type of race. It didn't go his way the first part of it. Once he got her down the backside and following a live horse to move him up, it was really good judgment for him and the horse was there for him. I was proud of both of them.”
Kicking off last term with a win in Aqueduct's Plenty of Grace S. last April, Regal Glory closed from well back to be fourth in Belmont's GI Just a Game S. in June. Rallying to victory in Saratoga's De La Rose S. in August, she was a close second in Keeneland's GI First Lady S. Oct. 9 and wired Del Mar's GI Matriarch S. last out Nov. 28.
Pedigree Notes:
Regal Glory is one of four Grade I winners, seven graded scorers and 15 black-type victors for her GI Kentucky Derby-winning sire Animal Kingdom. She is one of three graded winners for her MGSW dam Mary's Follies, who summoned $500,000 from BBA Ireland at last term's KEEJAN sale as part of the dispersal of the late Paul Pompa, Jr. Regal Glory was the co-topper at that auction at $925,000. Mary's Follies 2020 Connect colt brought $185,000 from Larry Best's OXO Equine at the same sale and RNA'd for $425,000 at KEESEP. Mary's Follies' first foal Night Prowler (Giant's Causeway) was also her first graded winner, earning over $535,000. Regal Glory came three foals later and was followed by Café Pharoah (American Pharoah), a Group 1 winner in Japan who has earned just shy of $2-million. Mary's Follies aborted her 2021 Curlin foal and was bred back to American Pharoah last season.
Saturday, Gulfstream
TAA PEGASUS WORLD CUP FILLY AND MARE TURF INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY PEPSI-GIII, $490,500, Gulfstream, 1-29, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:41.74, 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
($925,000 5yo '21 KEEJAN). O-Peter M. Brant; B-Paul P
Pompa (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $285,000.
Lifetime Record: GISW, 17-10-4-0, $1,529,884. *1/2 to Night
Prowler (Giant's Causeway), MGSW, $535,682; 1/2 to Café
Pharoah (American Pharoah), G1SW-Jpn, $1,928,283. Werk
Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report
& 5-cross pedigree.
2–Alms, 119, m, 5, City Zip–Charity Belle, by Empire Maker.
O/B-Godolphin, LLC (KY); T-Michael Stidham. $95,000.
3–Shifty She, 121, m, 6, Gone Astray–Perilous Hope, by
Strong Hope. O-Pedigree Partners LLC; B-Chris Pallas &
George Klein (FL); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. $47,500.
Margins: 2HF, NK, HD. Odds: 0.80, 19.10, 8.80.
Also Ran: Gift List (GB), Bipartisanship (GB), Wakanaka (Ire), Nicest (Ire), Summer in Saratoga, In a Hurry, Sweet Melania. Scratched: Lady Speightspeare.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
