Regal Glory Rules in Lake George

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY –  Under strange circumstances, Regal Glory was the best of the trio of Chad Brown trainees in Friday’s $150,000 Lake George Stakes (G3) at Saratoga. This was the second-consecutive win for the three-year-old daughter of Animal Kingdom who has never finished worse than second in her six-race career.

The post-time favorite Blowout went right to the front followed by the Dogtag and Regal Glory as the three-horse field made its way into the first turn. The trio of Chad Brown trainees stayed pretty much in that same order for the whole way around the track setting fractions of ;24.99, :48.66, and 1:12.82. Into the second turn, Blowout extended her lead to nearly two-lengths as she tried to break away and wire the field in style. Regal Glory and jockey Luis Saez, however, had plans of their own and they quickly shot from the rear to join the other horses as they came around the final turn. Into the stretch, they were three wide but Regal Glory made easy work of the other two. Dogtag quickly faded and Blowout held on for a second but was easily passed by Regal Glory who cruised on to an easy 1/2-length victory.

“I just wanted to move her out a little bit because she has a big turn of foot in the stretch and everything was perfect,” said jockey Luis Saez, who has won the last three stakes at Saratoga. “She always tries hard. Last time was an impressive win, and I really liked her today. I knew that I would have horse in the stretch.”

“It’s never happened before and it’ll probably never happen again, so it was definitely unusual, but we’re happy,” said trainer Chad Brown. “All three fillies seemed to run well, and Regal Glory just had a little more today.”

“This time around, what I did was I told all the jockeys, ‘Look, just try to ride your own race and do the best you can to win. Outside of that, if you want to talk to your individual clients or representatives that are here today, please do so and draw up a plan.’ I didn’t give any instructions other than that. I thought that was the fairest way to do it, only because it was my horses in the race. As it turns out, I thought all three fillies ran pretty well.”

Regal Glory is bred and owned by Paul P. Pompa Jr.

Regal Glory returned $6.60 to win. There was no place or show wagering.

Scratched: Espresso-Shot (Main Track), Stillwater Cove (Trainer), The Mackem Bullet (Trainer), Winter Sunset (Trainer)