Regal Glory's jaw-dropping Matriarch win strengthens Eclipse outlook

DEL MAR, Calif. – In his 15-year career, trainer Chad Brown has trained seven fillies and mares honored with the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding turf female.

There may be an eighth in the near future.

Regal Glory’s win in Sunday’s Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar was her third win in a race at the highest level this year and puts the now-retired 6-year-old firmly at the front of discussions regarding the 2022 turf female championship.

From Brown’s perspective, she’s done that and more.

“I’d put her in the top half-dozen turf mares I’ve trained,” he said Sunday evening.

That is quite a group. Brown has won Eclipse Awards for outstanding turf female with Stacelita (2011), Zagora (2012), Dayatthespa (2014), Lady Eli (2017), Sistercharlie (2018), Uni (2019), and Rushing Fall (2020).

The list does not include Stephanie’s Kitten, who won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2015, but lost the divisional trophy to Tepin, or Newspaperofrecord, a Grade 1 winner in 2020.

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Regal Glory, owned by Peter Brant, finished her career with 13 wins in 23 starts and earnings of $2,619,134. By Animal Kingdom, Regal Glory was bred by Paul Pompa and raced for him until his death in the fall of 2020. Regal Glory was purchased by Brant for $925,000 at the Keeneland horses of all ages sale in January 2021.

Trained by Brown throughout her career, Regal Glory won five stakes for Pompa and seven for Brant.

“She overachieved every step of her career,” Brown said. “She was courageous, had a will to win, and persevered.”

Regal Glory won the Matriarch Stakes by an eye-catching 5 1/4 lengths as the 3-5 favorite.

“It was one of her best races,” Brown said.

Regal Glory won the 2021 Matriarch, the first of her four career Grade 1 wins, and became only the second filly or mare to win multiple runnings of the race on Sunday. Flawlessy won the Matriarch Stakes from 1991 to 1993, when the race was run at Hollywood Park.

Brown, 43, sent three horses to Del Mar over the weekend. He won Saturday’s Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies with Liguria and finished sixth in the Matriarch with Dolce Zel.

Regal Glory’s Matriarch victory was the stable’s 18th Grade 1 win of 2022.

Brown has won 14 turf stakes at Del Mar’s autumn meeting since 2016. The late-season races will remain a fixture on his calendar. On Sunday evening, Brown was left wishing he had accomplished more at Del Mar in recent weeks.

“The downside is I didn’t bring more horses,” he said.

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