Woodbine: Regal Conqueror, Lapsang take unbeaten records into Fanfreluche

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The unbeaten 2-year-olds Regal Conqueror and Lapsang will clash Saturday at Woodbine in the $150,000 Fanfreluche Stakes, a six-furlong dash for Ontario-bred fillies.

Regal Conqueror won both of her races on the lead, including a Sept. 7 maiden special by 7 1/2 lengths. Three weeks later, she captured the Victorian Queen Stakes, another six-furlong sprint for Ontario-sired fillies, for which she earned a 77 Beyer Speed Figure.

“We liked her from the start,” trainer Darwin Banach said. “When you have that kind of pedigree, you can only wish for that. I don’t think that a mile and a sixteenth is out of her realm. We don’t want to do too much with her this year. We just want to give her a little experience, put a little money in the bank, and go from there.”

Regal Conqueror has a fascinating pedigree. Banach trained both her sire, Grade 1 winner and Canadian turf champion Sky Conqueror, and her dam, Canadian Grade 2 winner Classic Stamp. She is closely inbred (3x3) to No Class, Canada’s Broodmare of the Year in 1985.

Banach said Regal Conqueror’s early foot is instinctive.

“She just has natural speed,” Banach said. “Sky Conqueror had lots of natural speed. We just learned how to rate it and save it for the last quarter of a mile going long. The dam had good speed, too.”

Lapsang is the first stakes winner for trainer and part-owner Suzanne Drake.

A daughter of champion sprinter Smoke Glacken, Lapsang rallied from third to land her debut in a six-furlong maiden special Aug. 31. She came back to take the slow-paced Deputy Jane West Stakes after closing four wide from fourth, earning a 70 Beyer in the six-furlong sprint.

“We’re pretty excited about her,” Drake said. “We were hoping she’d be that nice. You never really think that, until it actually happens.”

Stakes winner Skylander Girl also is in the lineup. She graduated second time out in the open My Dear Stakes in July and subsequently won the Ontario Debutante Stakes. In her last two outings, she wound up sixth in the Muskoka Stakes and fifth in the Grade 2 Natalma on the grass.

Win streaks on line in Ruling Angel

The hot allowance runners Line of Best Fit and Silent Treat will meet in Saturday’s $100,000 Ruling Angel, a 6 1/2-furlong overnight stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Line of Best Fit led throughout two six-furlong allowances late in the summer, one against Ontario-sired stock and the other in open company. As evidenced by her other two victories, she doesn’t need the lead to get the job done.

Silent Treat takes virtually the same two-race win streak into the race as Line of Best Fit, except both of her recent tallies came over seven furlongs.

Just Got In ships in from Laurel off a victory in a five-furlong allowance on the grass at Delaware. She was claimed from her previous start, another win, for $30,000 by trainer Mary Eppler. Just Got In won the 2012 My Dear Stakes here for trainer Ricky Griffith.