Royal Delta's Ladies Classic Win a Fitting End to Palides Investments

While Royal Delta gave Bill Mott his second Ladies Classic win in two years under the lights at Churchill on Friday night, it was a bitter sweet moment.  Royal Delta’s owner Prince Khaled of Saudi Arabia died earlier this year before seeing the filly’s full potential fulfilled.

“Absolute ultimate for him, and he was so passionate about the horses.  He loved the farm and every horse.  He knew them all well.  He did all the matings,” Racing manager Ron Wallace said. “He was able to see her maiden win, so he knew how good she probably was going to be.  Unfortunately, he didn't get to see how great ‑‑ it's definitely the best horse he's ever bred.”

The Ladies Classic pace was set by Plum Pretty who led until the stretch where she faltered. At that point, Royal Delta raced to a 2 1/2 length win over It’s Tricky with Pachattack coming in third 2 1/4 lengths behind the second place horse.

The track was listed as good but was still a bit slow as the horses got away with fractions of 24.18, 49.00, 1:13.72, and 1:38.12 for a final time of 1:50.78. This was a little worrisome for trainer Bill Mott who knew his horse wouldn’t have an easy time passing exhausted horses.

“You're sitting up in the grandstand and watching her come, and you know that when they go in 49 and change in the fractions that they set, the horses on the front end are going to have something left,” Mott said. “So I think we were trying to catch horses that still had a little steam left, and she was just good enough to do it.”

Royal Delta’s win seems to be the crowning point for her to win the Three-Year-Old Filly Eclipse award as she also had wins in the G1 Black Eyed Susan and G1 Alabama in addition to a second behind Classic contender Havre De Grace in the Beldame Invitational in her last out. 

The Breeder’s Cup Ladies Classic winner will be one of the many horses Prince Khaled owned to be sold at Keeneland next weekend as his estate sells off all the Palides Investments horses at the auction.