Royal Delta fires bullet for Del 'Cap title defense

Two-time champion Royal Delta blitzed five furlongs in a bullet :58 4/5 at

Belmont Park on Sunday, turning in by far the best of 15 works at the distance

on the fast main track.

"She was super," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said. "She really worked

really, really well. Couldn't be better.

"(But) she trained good going in her last race as well, and got beat, so," he

noted, referring to her lackluster second in the June 15 Fleur de Lis Handicap

at Churchill Downs.

Besilu Stables' five-year-old mare is following the same itinerary as she did

in 2012. Unplaced in the Dubai World Cup on the Tapeta at Meydan on March 30,

she returned to action in the Fleur de Lis, but was unable to replicate her

stunning victory from a year ago.

Royal Delta will now mount another title defense in the Delaware Handicap on

July 20, which has been upgraded to Grade 1 status. Last July, the daughter of

Empire Maker gamely repelled Tiz Miz Sue under top weight of 124 pounds in the 1

1/4-mile test.

Mott also reported that Preston Stables' Flat Out, who added a second Grade 2

Suburban Handicap victory to his resume on Saturday, returned from the race in

fine fettle and will likely return to Saratoga on Monday or Tuesday.

Flat Out, who took the 2011 Suburban to earn his first graded stakes win, now

has won five of six starts at Belmont. His next likely start is the Grade 1,

$750,000 Whitney Invitational Handicap on August 3 at Saratoga. In three

appearances at the Spa, Flat Out finished second in the 2011 Whitney, second in

the 2011 Woodward and third in the 2012 Whitney.

In Saturday's Suburban, the seven-year-old Flat Out was closer to the pace

than usual, but pulled away to an easy 2 1/2-length win.

"He broke a little better than I even imagined him to," Mott said. "And then

(jockey Junior Alvarado) eased him off the other horse and he came again when he

wanted him to."

In another Saturday postscript, Moreno, who won the Grade 2 Dwyer by seven

lengths in front-running fashion, will ship to Saratoga Monday and will be

considered for several upcoming races for three-year-olds, trainer Eric Guillot

said Sunday.

"We'll go to some sort of Derby with him, whether it's the Travers, the West

Virginia Derby, the Super Derby," said Guillot, who trains the colt for Southern

Equine Stable. "There are a bunch of options this time of year. We'll see who is

going where before we make a decision."

The Dwyer was the second straight win for Moreno, who began his career in

California prior to his 6 1/4-length maiden win on the Belmont Stakes undercard

on June 8 and his Dwyer triumph.

"He got a little bored on the front end (at the end of the Dwyer), and he ran

the same fractions as Flat Out," Guillot said.

Moreno's fractions for the 1 1/16-mile Dwyer were :24 1/5, :47 1/5, 1:10 4/5

and 1:34 4/5 en route to a final time of 1:41, while the fractions for the

Suburban were :23 2/5, :47 1/5, 1:11 and 1:34 4/5, with a final clocking of 1:46

4/5 for the 1 1/8 miles.

"He's getting better, especially since he was gelded four starts back," the

trainer added.

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