Trainer Chad Brown could accomplish something with Regal Glory that hasn't been done since the days of Charlie Whittingham 30 years ago: win back-to-back editions of the Matriarch Stakes (G1T) with the same horse. Because the Matriarch at Del Mar is slated to be Regal Glory's final race, Brown won't be able to duplicate Whittingham's three-peat with Flawlessly from 1991-93. But he can go Whittingham one better by scoring a double without being a regular on the Southern California circuit.
Brown ships horses into California with tactical precision, and nowhere does that manifest itself as much as in the Matriarch. He has won four of the last five editions of the race, with Off Limits in 2017, champion Uni in 2018, Viadera in 2020, and Regal Glory in 2021. He brings Regal Glory back this year, along with Dolce Zel.
Regal Glory will face an entirely new cast in the Dec. 4 Matriarch. Last year she won by 2 1/2 lengths in a field of six; this year the one-mile turf race for distaffers 3 and up has attracted 10. The 6-year-old Kentucky-bred daughter of Animal Kingdom has put together 11 stakes wins that span seven different tracks in five states. Brown has shepherded her entire career, both when breeder Paul Pompa Jr. raced her and then, following Pompa's death, after Peter Brant purchased her at auction for $925,000.
Brown told BloodHorse's Joe Perez that Regal Glory ranks "in the top group of turf mares I've trained," and he cited her consistency and durability. Regular rider Jose Ortiz will remain at Aqueduct Racetrack over the weekend, with Flavien Prat taking over on Regal Glory from post 6.
While Regal Glory is closing out a long career, Dolce Zel has a promising future. Just a 3-year-old, she has two wins, one second, and two thirds in five U.S. starts for Brown. She captured the July 22 Lake George Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga Race Course by a nose over Brown-trained Eminent Victor after getting slammed from both sides at the start and then encountering traffic later in the one-mile race. She races for Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, Robert LaPenta, and Michael J. Caruso.
"She got through, and after she got through, she put her head down and fought with the other one," said jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. following the Lake George. Ortiz is riding on a large stakes card at Aqueduct Dec. 3, including a mount on White Abarrio in the Cigar Mile Handicap Presented by NYRA Bets (G1). The jockey is scheduled to travel to California to partner with Dolce Zel, who drew post 9, in the Matriarch and is named on four other horses on the Del Mar card.
One other 3-year-old will tackle her elders in the Matriarch and brings excellent credentials, especially over this course. Bobby Flay's homebred Pizza Bianca, trained by Christophe Clement and based in the East, has started at Del Mar once before, when she won the 2021 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T). In four starts since then, she has added the Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico Race Course and traveled to Royal Ascot, where she competed in the Coronation Stakes (G1). By Fastnet Rock, Pizza Bianca starts again for Flay after failing to meet her reserve when the hammer fell for $3.5 million at The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's marquee breeding stock sale. In her last start, the Oct. 15 Sands Point Stakes (G2T), she finished fourth. Umberto Rispoli has the mount for the first time; the duo breaks from post 8.
Locals with good Del Mar form include Avenue de France, winner of the John C. Mabee Stakes (G2T) during the summer meeting, and Bipartisanship and Gold for Kitten, who ran one-two in the Nov. 12 Kathryn Crosby Stakes. Juan Hernandez, the leading jockey at the current meeting, rode Avenue de France and Bipartisanship in those races, and he sticks with Avenue de France, who drew the outside post, for trainer Leonard Powell. Joe Bravo will ride Bipartisanship for trainer Graham Motion from the rail, while trainer John Sadler named Hector Berrios on Gold for Kitten (post 4).
Group 3 winner Wakanaka was entered but will not be permitted to compete by the California Horse Racing Board after shipping from Churchill Downs and testing mildly positive on a nasal swab sample with a very low viral load for the contagious equine herpesvirus, specifically a strain called EHV-1. Multiple barns at Churchill Downs are currently quarantined due to an EHV-1 issue.
According to a Dec. 3 statement by Dr. Jeff Blea, equine medical director for the CHRB, Wakanaka's viral load was too weak to differentiate between neuropathogenic and non-neuropathogenic EHV-1, but "out an abundance of caution," the Bill Mott trainee will not be allowed to race as planned. Upon arrival to Del Mar Nov. 29 with two other horses that shipped from Churchill, Wakanaka had been placed in a quarantine barn with biosecurity measures implemented, which continue to remain in place.
"Since their arrival, all three horses remain healthy and show no clinical signs of illness. Furthermore, bloodwork has been and continues to remain normal," the statement read.
Rounding out the field are England's Rose (Victor Espinoza, post 2), most recently second in the Goldikova Stakes (G2T) at Santa Anita Park; Eddie's New Dream (Mario Gutierrez, post 3), a two-time stakes winner this year in California-bred company; and Hamwood Flier (Mike Smith, post 5), winner of the Oct. 9 Swingtime Stakes at Santa Anita.
Del Mar, Sunday, December 4, 2022, Race 7Entries: Matriarch S. (G1T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Bipartisanship (GB) Joe Bravo 123 H. Graham Motion 10/1 2 2England's Rose (KY) Victor Espinoza 123 John A. Shirreffs 12/1 3 3Eddie's New Dream (CA) Mario Gutierrez 123 Ben D. A. Cecil 20/1 4 4Gold for Kitten (KY) Hector Isaac Berrios 123 John W. Sadler 20/1 5 5Hamwood Flier (IRE) Mike E. Smith 123 Philip D'Amato 5/1 6 6Regal Glory (KY) Flavien Prat 123 Chad C. Brown 8/5 7 7Wakanaka (IRE) Joel Rosario 123 William I. Mott 5/1 8 8Pizza Bianca (KY) Umberto Rispoli 120 Christophe Clement 6/1 9 9Dolce Zel (FR) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 120 Chad C. Brown 6/1 10 10Avenue de France (FR) Juan J. Hernandez 123 Leonard Powell 15/1
