Regal Glory can go out with a bang in Matriarch

The first time Regal Glory was sent to California she won her first Grade 1 race in the Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar last November.

A return trip for Sunday’s $400,000 Matriarch Stakes will be Regal Glory’s final start before retirement, an opportunity to make race history and enhance her chances for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding turf female.

Regal Glory can become the second repeat winner of a race first run in 1981. Flawlessly won three runnings of the Matriarch Stakes from 1991 to 1993.

As sharp as Regal Glory was in winning the 2021 Matriarch, she seems better this year, winning 3 of 6 starts and earning $1,134,250.

“She’s had a good solid year,” trainer Chad Brown reflected earlier this week. “She’s looking to close out her career on a high note.”

Regal Glory, a 6-year-old mare owned by Peter Brant, drew post 6 in a field of 10 in the Matriarch, the seventh race on a nine-race program that begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.

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The Matriarch Stakes is part of the 20-cent Jackpot pick six that covers the fourth through ninth races and has a mandatory payout on Sunday’s final day of the track’s autumn meeting. Los Alamitos begins a two-week meeting Friday.

The Matriarch field drew eight 2022 stakes winners, four of which have won graded stakes this season. Regal Glory is the only 2022 Grade 1 stakes winner in the field.

Pizza Bianca won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar in November 2021, but has only a single win from four starts this year. Avenue de France and Wakanaka, Grade 2 winners this year, are capable of challenging Regal Glory with their best performances. Brown also starts Dolce Zel, a 3-year-old filly who won the Grade 3 Lake George Stakes at Saratoga in July.

Bettors will focus on Regal Glory who won consecutive Grade 1 races for fillies and mares at a mile on turf earlier this year in the Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland in April and the Just a Game Stakes at Belmont Park in June.

Though winless in her last three starts, Regal Glory was second against males in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga in August and second to stablemate In Italian in the Grade 1 First Lady Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf at Keeneland in October.

In Italian, as well as the Grade 1 winner War Like Goddess, are both top-level Eclipse Award candidates.

Regal Glory was 10th of 14 in the Breeders’ Cup Mile against males on Nov. 5 at Keeneland, beaten five lengths by Modern Games.

“She had a wide trip,” Brown said. “I hated the trip. I’m not saying she would have won. I didn’t like it all. It was a challenging trip.”

Jose Ortiz has ridden Regal Glory in her last 12 starts since September 2020, but has been replaced by Flavien Prat. Ortiz is riding at Aqueduct on Sunday. Regal Glory set a slow pace to win the 2021 Matriarch but typically races from a tracking position.

“She’s very intelligent,” Brown said. “She’s a push-button horse in her races.”

Brown has won the last two runnings of the Matriarch, and four of the last five, but has never won with a 3-year-old. Dolce Zel and Pizza Bianca are the only 3-year-olds in this year’s field.

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Pizza Bianca, trained by Christophe Clement, was fourth as the 9-5 favorite in the Grade 2 Sands Point, a 1 1/8-mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Oct. 15 at the Belmont at Aqueduct meeting. The Sands Point was her first start since an eighth-place finish in a field of 12 in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Royal Ascot in June.

Dolce Zel followed her win in the Lake George with a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Saratoga in August. The Matriarch will be her debut against older fillies and mares.

“I like a mile for her and I like her fresh,” Brown said. “She’s not without a chance.”

Dolce Zel, who will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., runs as a stalker and will be in pursuit of Hamwood Flier, who won the restricted Swingtime Stakes at a mile on turf for fillies and mares on Oct. 9 at Santa Anita. Hamwood Flier led by as many as eight lengths on the backstretch.

The Matriarch is her graded stakes debut.

“She has one style,” trainer Phil D’Amato said. “She’s going to go and she’s going to go fast. Those are the type of horses that if you chase her, you will end up short late. She takes away from the rest of the speed horses. That’s her best style.

We’re taking a giant step in class. Since her last race, this is what we’ve been pointing for.”

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