Royalty Boy surprises

Royalty Boy, invading from Edmonton's Northlands Park, rallied from off a quick and contested pace to score a $15.50 upset in Monday's $100,000 Manitoba Lotteries Derby at Assiniboia Downs.

Shanghied, the locally based favorite who was seeking his fourth straight win in the 1 1/8-mile Manitoba Derby, assumed command almost immediately but was harassed throughout by both Skipper and Albarino, who was the second choice after shipping in from Ontario.

Royalty Boy, swinging wide into the stretch, won going away by 2 3/4 lengths while finishing in 1:52, with a stubborn Skipper, who was sent off at 21-1 in the field of seven, holding on for second place.

Shanghied finished another 1 1/4 lengths back in third, with Albarino a well-beaten fourth. Stonewall Harris, Plum Red, and Coal Smudge completed the order of finish.

An Alberta-bred trained by Bruce Phelan and ridden by Real Simard, Royalty Boy was recording his first stakes score in his ninth career start and earned $60,000, bringing his career total to $121,273.

There also were three $40,000 supporting features on the holiday program.

* Tuff Justice ($8.60), a shipper from Canterbury Park, won the Winnipeg Futurity for trainer John Betts and jockey Jason Eades. Maid for Speed and El Grande Seville finished second and third in the six-furlong race for 2-year-olds.

* Northern Affair ($30.10), trained by Keith Corbel and ridden by Jerry Pruitt, led a one-two sweep for Winnipeg-based horses in the Wheat City. Smoked Em ran second and Icy Tobin, a Canterbury invader, ended third in the one-mile race for 3-year-olds and upward.

* Victory Thrill ($14.50), trained by Albert Blake and ridden by Travis Hightower, scored another win for the home team in the Jack Hardy. Southern Spring was second and Ericka's Lass third in the one-mile race for fillies and mares.