Royal Delta cruises to Personal Ensign victory

Royal Delta earned yet another effortless score on Sunday, coasting home a 4

1/2-length winner under Mike Smith in Saratoga's Grade 1, $588,000

Personal

Ensign Handicap. The Empire Maker mare avenged her close second in this same

contest last year when finishing nine furlongs over the fast track in 1:48 1/5.

"Everything went wrong, didn't it, last year," Smith said. "She got really,

really hot. I didn't think I rode her really well last year. I was just getting

to know her. I didn't let her use that big stride that she has early. I should

have then because I think I would have won that one. But you live and learn, and

it's just getting better and better."

"When she comes with her 'A' game, that's what you expect," Hall of Fame

trainer Bill Mott stated. "She was just good. She was good last time. Mike said

she was strong and felt great."

Campaigned by Benjamin Leon's Besilu Stables, Royal Delta was sent off the

heavy 1-2 favorite against her four rivals and returned $3.10, $2.10 and $2.10

to her many supporters. The $360,000 winner's share boosted her already

impressive earnings to $4,611,126 and she now boasts a 12-4-1 career mark from

20 starts.

The victory also earned her an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff,

which she's captured for the past two years under the moniker of Breeders' Cup

Ladies' Classic. Mott indicated that she'll be cross-entered to both the Distaff

and Breeders' Cup Classic, the same as 2012.

Royal Delta was more than a bit washed out entering the gate, and

was outbroke by On Fire Baby to her inside. The star mare's younger opponent

gained a short lead rounding the first time, posting a first quarter split of

:23 2/5, but Smith was unable to hold his dual champion back for long. She

easily swooped past On Fire Baby entering the backstretch to gain firm command

of the race.

"I just was happy I got away good today, and once we did that and she got

into her monstrous stride, horses seem to have to take two to her one. She's a

machine," he added.

"You know what? Who's going to go with her?" Mott replied when asked if he

had been concerned by the pace. "We lapped up on On Fire Baby and he backed off

us. I guess he could see we were going to go. She's just got a big, beautiful

stride and it's hard for some of them to keep up."

Authenticity was best of the rest, 1 3/4 lengths up on Centring in third. On

Fire Baby followed another 4 3/4 lengths back in fourth while Open Water trailed

home in last.

"I thought our filly ran super. We were just second best," trainer Todd

Pletcher praised Authenticity. "I'm really pleased with her effort. She didn't

lose any respect in defeat."

"I got a little bit excited at the five-sixteenths pole when we were getting

closer. I thought we had a chance," admitted Authenticity's rider, John

Velazquez. "Then at the quarter-pole, Royal Delta reached in and got away again.

We were just second best."

She capped off her three-year-old season with a 2 1/2-length victory in the

Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic, and was shipped cross-country to bring a

sale-topping $8.5 million at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale just a

couple days later. Leon's Besilu Stables had the winning bid, which was the most

ever paid for a horse in training at Keeneland November.

Royal Delta enjoyed some down time over the winter, during which she was

honored as the champion three-year-old filly of 2011, before returning in the

2012 Sabin. While her performances in that Gulfstream race and Dubai weren't

very encouraging, her connections' faith in their star filly was redeemed when

she romped by eight lengths in the Fleur de Lis.

The Kentucky-bred continued her winning ways with a gutsy neck score in last

year's Del 'Cap, then suffered her only other loss of 2012 when second in the

Personal Ensign. She rounded out her four-year-old campaign with a 9 1/2-length

triumph in the Beldame and easy title defense in the Ladies' Classic to become

just the second two-time winner of that latter race.

Eclipse Award voters once again honored Royal Delta for her accomplishments,

this time naming her the champion older female of 2012.

According to Mott, Royal Delta will likely continue on the same path she

followed last year by competing in the September 28 Beldame at Belmont Park next

out.