2022 Eclipse Awards: Down Royal

The first time Down Royal raced at Saratoga, she finished last of 10 in a maiden race for 2-year-old sprinters on a sloppy track in July 2016. Six years later, Down Royal was back at Saratoga with an incredibly different result.

She was the center of attention early on a Wednesday afternoon in July when she won the Grade 1 A.P. Smithwick Hurdle, a $150,000 race at 2 1/16 miles, for the richest win of her career.

Down Royal had her best season last year. An 8-year-old mare in 2022, Down Royal won two graded stakes for hurdlers and earned a position among the finalists for the Eclipse Award as the year’s outstanding steeplechaser.

The success was far from her loss on a wet track at Saratoga in 2016, or three winless seasons from 2018 to 2020. Instead, her 2022 campaign was the continuation of a fine 2021 season, in which Down Royal won 3 of 4 starts, including two stakes.

:: Full list of 2022 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Down Royal’s success has been a family affair for the husband-and-wife team of Bernie and Kate Dalton. They bred Down Royal, who races for Joseph Fowler. Kate Dalton trains Down Royal, while Bernie is the jockey and has been aboard the mare for all of her races over obstacles.

Down Royal began her 2022 racing season by winning the Margaret Currey Henley Hurdle for fillies and mares on May 14 in Nashville. Down Royal was second in the race in 2019 and 2021.

Down Royal had her second start in the Smithwick on July 20 and was the 6-1 fourth choice of seven and the only mare in the field. Down Royal closed from sixth with a wide move on the turn to take the lead in the final strides from the longshot Chief Justice.

As Down Royal moved into contention, Kate Dalton thought a third-place finish would be an achievement, and second looked good to Dalton after the final hurdle.

“It didn’t look like she was going to pass Chief Justice, and I was delighted with second,” she said after the race. “But she just kept giving 100 percent. It’s what she does.

“I don’t know why she’s suddenly got so good, but she has.”

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The only blemish on Down Royal’s 2022 season occurred in Saratoga’s top jump race, the Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard Stakes on Aug. 17. Down Royal was fifth early and was never a factor, finishing sixth, 20 1/4 lengths behind winner Snap Decision, another Eclipse finalist.

Two months later, Down Royal was back in the winner’s circle after the Grade 2 Zeke Ferguson Memorial Handicap Hurdle at Great Meadow in Virginia. Again, Down Royal stalked the early pace in a field of four and was well in front before winning by 3 1/2 lengths in the final start of the best season of her career.

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