The field may have been short for the Longines Just a Game Stakes (USA-G1) on June 11, but the race resulted in a cracking good performance nonetheless. Under a confident ride by Jose Ortiz, Regal Glory trailed the pace set by Leggs Galore and then In Italian by as much as nine lengths before taking command in the stretch. The daughter of Animal Kingdom stopped the timer for the mile on firm turf in a swift 1:32 flat. The official split for the final quarter was a lively enough 23.05, but as Regal Glory was still close to 5½ lengths off the pace at the three-quarters pole, she had to have run her final quarter in closer to :22 seconds, a brilliant closing move by anyone's standards.
A half sister to two-time February Stakes (JPN-G1) winner Cafe Pharoah (by American Pharoah) and multiple Grade 3 winner Night Prowler (by Giant's Causeway), Regal Glory has been later in coming to her best form but has now racked up three Grade 1 wins at 5 and 6. Her dam Mary's Follies is the latest top broodmare from the family of Reine-de-Course Marching Home, which has been producing good horses for over eighty years.
After the epic duel between Man o' War and John P. Grier in the 1920 Dwyer Stakes, It seems inevitable that someone would have thought crossing the bloodlines of the great champion and the only horse to ever bring him to a drive would be an interesting experiment. Sired by John P. Grier out of the Man o' War mare Warrior Lass, Marching Home proved durable (she won 13 of 65 starts) but was a long way from top class as a race mare, though her half brother Knickerbocker (by Teddy) won the 1939 Metropolitan Handicap. Her first three matings were all to the good stayer Espino and produced all three of her stakes winners, a trio headed by Bounding Home, who became the first American Triple Crown spoiler when he upset Pensive by half a length in the 1944 Belmont Stakes.
Bounding Home never won another stakes race and died in training as a 6-year-old, but two of his half sisters made contributions as broodmares. One, stakes-placed Leading Home (by Bull Lea) became the second dam of 1976 Vanity Handicap (USA-G1) winner Miss Toshiba and the third dam of five-time champion Committed (who won titles in England, France and Ireland) and 1986 Vosburgh Handicap (USA-G1) winner King's Swan. The other, Sailing Home (by Wait a Bit, one of the three participants in the famous triple dead heat in the Carter Handicap of 1944) made a lasting mark on Thoroughbred bloodlines as the second dam of 1971 Jersey Derby winner Bold Reasoning, sire of Seattle Slew.
Sailing Home's best runner on the racetrack was Tacking (by Turn-To), who gained three stakes placings at Keeneland in the late 1950s before becoming the dam of 1968 San Bernardino Handicap winner Tiltable (by Round Table). Tacking also produced seven daughters who ended up in the broodmare ranks, but the only one of any significance was her unraced Sir Ivor filly, Queen Ivor. Queen Ivor produced Duchess Ivor (by In Reality), dam of the minor stakes winner Real Fling (by Quiet Fling), but more importantly is the dam of Blue Ankle (also by In Reality), who produced multiple listed stakes winner Wave to the Queen (by Wavering Monarch) as the second of her two foals.
Bred mostly to second-tier or worse sires during her broodmare career, Wave to the Queen had the results that would be more or less expected, but she took advantage of a mating to Miswaki in 2000 to produce Catch the Queen. Catch the Queen could not win or place in three tries, but when bred to More Than Ready in 2005, she produced the final link in the sequence to Regal Glory by coming up with Mary's Follies. The winner of the 2009 Mrs. Revere Stakes (USA-G2) and Boiling Springs Stakes (USA-G3) during her racing days and now a multiple Grade/Group 1 producer, Mary's Follies is still active as a broodmare and on February 26 produced a full brother to Cafe Pharoah.
For owner Peter Brant, who purchased Regal Glory for US$925,000 from the 2021 Keeneland January mixed sale, the win was particularly satisfying as he also campaigned the race's namesake, Just a Game, who was the American champion turf female of 1980. With the American racing season of 2022 now at the halfway mark, Regal Glory is certainly in contention in the turf female division, and if she continues showing the brilliant turn of foot that she did in Saturday's race, look for her to come marching home in more top events before season's end.
A half sister to two-time February Stakes (JPN-G1) winner Cafe Pharoah (by American Pharoah) and multiple Grade 3 winner Night Prowler (by Giant's Causeway), Regal Glory has been later in coming to her best form but has now racked up three Grade 1 wins at 5 and 6. Her dam Mary's Follies is the latest top broodmare from the family of Reine-de-Course Marching Home, which has been producing good horses for over eighty years.
After the epic duel between Man o' War and John P. Grier in the 1920 Dwyer Stakes, It seems inevitable that someone would have thought crossing the bloodlines of the great champion and the only horse to ever bring him to a drive would be an interesting experiment. Sired by John P. Grier out of the Man o' War mare Warrior Lass, Marching Home proved durable (she won 13 of 65 starts) but was a long way from top class as a race mare, though her half brother Knickerbocker (by Teddy) won the 1939 Metropolitan Handicap. Her first three matings were all to the good stayer Espino and produced all three of her stakes winners, a trio headed by Bounding Home, who became the first American Triple Crown spoiler when he upset Pensive by half a length in the 1944 Belmont Stakes.
Bounding Home never won another stakes race and died in training as a 6-year-old, but two of his half sisters made contributions as broodmares. One, stakes-placed Leading Home (by Bull Lea) became the second dam of 1976 Vanity Handicap (USA-G1) winner Miss Toshiba and the third dam of five-time champion Committed (who won titles in England, France and Ireland) and 1986 Vosburgh Handicap (USA-G1) winner King's Swan. The other, Sailing Home (by Wait a Bit, one of the three participants in the famous triple dead heat in the Carter Handicap of 1944) made a lasting mark on Thoroughbred bloodlines as the second dam of 1971 Jersey Derby winner Bold Reasoning, sire of Seattle Slew.
Sailing Home's best runner on the racetrack was Tacking (by Turn-To), who gained three stakes placings at Keeneland in the late 1950s before becoming the dam of 1968 San Bernardino Handicap winner Tiltable (by Round Table). Tacking also produced seven daughters who ended up in the broodmare ranks, but the only one of any significance was her unraced Sir Ivor filly, Queen Ivor. Queen Ivor produced Duchess Ivor (by In Reality), dam of the minor stakes winner Real Fling (by Quiet Fling), but more importantly is the dam of Blue Ankle (also by In Reality), who produced multiple listed stakes winner Wave to the Queen (by Wavering Monarch) as the second of her two foals.
Bred mostly to second-tier or worse sires during her broodmare career, Wave to the Queen had the results that would be more or less expected, but she took advantage of a mating to Miswaki in 2000 to produce Catch the Queen. Catch the Queen could not win or place in three tries, but when bred to More Than Ready in 2005, she produced the final link in the sequence to Regal Glory by coming up with Mary's Follies. The winner of the 2009 Mrs. Revere Stakes (USA-G2) and Boiling Springs Stakes (USA-G3) during her racing days and now a multiple Grade/Group 1 producer, Mary's Follies is still active as a broodmare and on February 26 produced a full brother to Cafe Pharoah.
For owner Peter Brant, who purchased Regal Glory for US$925,000 from the 2021 Keeneland January mixed sale, the win was particularly satisfying as he also campaigned the race's namesake, Just a Game, who was the American champion turf female of 1980. With the American racing season of 2022 now at the halfway mark, Regal Glory is certainly in contention in the turf female division, and if she continues showing the brilliant turn of foot that she did in Saturday's race, look for her to come marching home in more top events before season's end.
RSS Feed