Regal Glory Romps in Penn Oaks

GRANTVILLE, PA – Paul Pompa, Jr., sent his homebred Regal Glory to post as the heavy 1/9 favorite, and she delivered handsomely, romping home beautifully in Saturday’s $200,000 Penn Oaks at Penn National.

Breaking from post 7 as the bettors’ choice under Luis Saez, Regal Glory sat an early stalking position while Jennifer’s Dream and Ujjayi dueled up front through opening fractions of :23.04, :47.94, and 1:13.83. Tipping out to run four-wide midway through the far turn, Regal Glory shot past new leader Alasaayil and easily hit the front end.

Uncontested as she drew off sharply in the stretch, the Chad Brown trainee crossed with a 2 3/4-length advantage in a final time of 1:39.43 for the 1-mile event over the yielding turf course.

“I had a lot of horse all the way,” Saez said. “She broke pretty good; she was right there. (Alasaayil) came out and took a good spot, and I just let her go because I knew I had a lot of horse for the stretch. She was pretty nice, pretty comfortable. When she came to the stretch and switched the lead, she was running. I was saving it. When you’re winning so easily like that, it’s better to save it for the next race.”

Alasaayil was much the best of the rest, finishing 5 1/2 lengths clear of a weakening Jennifer’s Dream. Afleet Destiny improved mildly from the rear to neck out Turko Treat for fourth, while Ujjayi quit running by the end of the far turn and completed the order of finish.

Ionic was a trainer scratch, while Remarkable Soul was a main track only entry.

Regal Glory’s win was her first since taking the Stewart Manor Stakes at Aqueduct on November 11 and improved her record to 5-3-2-0 with $274,250 earned. The 3-year-old daughter of Animal Kingdom was second in each of her last two starts, the Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3) and the Appalachian Stakes (G2). Following her performance Saturday, Brown will likely look to give her a third shot against graded company.

“I thought she ran huge because she was four-wide basically the whole way,” Brown said. “Through no fault of the jockey, it just worked out that way from her post. I felt Luis did a good job of timing it right and she just proved much the best that trip. I was very impressed with her race. I think it’s her best race to date. She ran great. We’re real happy with her. We’ll get her back home and try to plan the next move.”

Regal Glory returned $2.20 to win, $2.10 to place, and $2.10 to show. Alasaayil brought back $2.10 to place and $2.10 to show, while Jennifer’s Dream paid $5 to show.