Expect Royalty seeks repeat in Lane's End Stallion Scholarship
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Leroy Pollok has bred and raced horses for 40 years, and the best individual his program has produced, Expect Royalty, will be in action Saturday night at Lone Star Park. She will be defending her title in the $50,000 Lane’s End Stallion Scholarship Stakes while also looking to nail down career win No. 12.
“We’ve had a lot of fun with her,” said Pollok, 60, who trains Expect Royalty for his wife, Loyana. “I’m one who kind of gets attached to horses. I was offered $80,000 for her when she was still a maiden and refused it because I felt good about her. So, we kept her. I felt I had something, but you never know until they show you 100 percent.”
Expect Royalty has proven her mettle as a four-time stakes winner and earner of $242,050. She will vie for favoritism in the nine-horse Lane’s End, a 7 1/2-furlong turf race for Texas-bred fillies and mares. The stakes also drew the Kentucky shipper Seneca Destiny and the promising 3-year-old More Than Most and complements a Texas Thoroughbred Association gala honoring both Ivan Fallunovalot, the Texas-bred Horse of the Year for 2015, and Will Farish of Lane’s End.
Lane’s End Stallion Scholarship, Race 7
KEY CONTENDERS
Expect Royalty, by Valid Expectations
Last 3 Beyers: 79-78-82
◗ She will be seeking her second straight win at the meet, following an allowance score over open company April 23. She broke from the rail, set the pace, and was a neck winner under regular rider Iram Diego. It was a departure from her regular stalking style, which she could return to Saturday.
“That race, we tried a little something different and went to the front,” said Pollok. “Iram said there wasn’t too much speed in the race, so we tried it. I think there’s a little bit more speed in this race.”
◗ Expect Royalty has prepped for the Lane’s End at Retama Park. Pollok said he used pacing drills to bring her up to the race.
“I do two-minute clips with her,” he said. “I don’t do the fast works. She seems to like to do it that way. Some horses need the other way. But it seems to work well for her.”
◗ Pollok, who got into breeding and racing at the age of 20 and keeps four to five broodmares at his farm near Retama, said Expect Royalty will get a month’s vacation after Saturday and then prep for fall stakes at Retama and Remington Park.
Seneca Destiny, by Seneca Jones
Last 3 Beyers: 76-80-80
◗ She has won three of her last five starts and exits a race that has produced four next-out winners.
◗ Bryan McNeil has the mount for trainer Brad Cox.