True Royalty Kicks Away for Torrey Pines Victory
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Photo: BENOIT PHOTo
True Royalty wins the Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar
There have been plenty of impressive feats accomplished from hot barns at Del Mar during the summer of 2018.
Trainer Bob Baffert has been untouchable in 2-year-old races and Peter Miller has won at a tremendous rate in turf sprints, but when the top money has been on the line, John Sadler has risen above them all.
The $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes (G3) was just the next in line Aug. 26 at Del Mar, as the Batchelor Family Trust's True Royalty gave Sadler his eighth stakes win of the meet with a commanding 3 1/2-length victory.
After a good break from the far outside under jockey Drayden Van Dyke (who won his ninth stakes at the meet) in the field of 10 3-year-old fillies, the daughter of Yes It's True entered the first turn of the one-mile dirt test four wide, then advanced to a stalking position in third midway through the turn.
"I was loaded going into that first turn. She was really keen to go on," Van Dyke said. "But at the half-mile (pole), she relaxed. Then we were good to go."
The second bend is where True Royalty made her move, as she breezed past longshot Broome and tiring frontrunner Thirteen Squared, and she faced little competition from the quarter pole to the wire to finish off the distance in 1:39.07 at odds of 8-1.
Favored Just Grazed Me closed well from sixth to pick up second, 2 1/2 lengths clear of Spring Lily.
"We were really high on this horse. We just haven't been able to get the race that we wanted for her for a long time," said Sadler assistant Juan Leyva, who represented the barn in the winner's circle Sunday, because Sadler was home sick.
Broome held fourth, and was followed by Lemoona, Zusha, Aunt Lubie, Royal Descendent, Well Hello, and Thirteen Squared, to complete the order of finish. Thirteen Squared tired harshly in the second turn after she set fractions of :22.84 and :47.57 through a half-mile.
True Royalty broke her maiden in her second start at Del Mar a year ago to the day. She then got an extended break from racing and won her 3-year-old debut sprinting at Santa Anita Park March 29, but went winless in her three starts before the Torrey Pines—a fifth in the Angels Flight Stakes and a pair of thirds in allowance company.
"We knew she wanted to go two turns and she's been working great for this race," Leyva said. "She hasn't missed a beat since she's been down here."
Bred in Florida by SJT Racing Stable, out of the Street Cry mare High Wire, True Royalty now has a 3-1-2 record from seven starts and $154,510 in earnings. She was a $180,000 purchase out of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training in 2017.