Down Royal (right) leads City Dreamer (red cap) and Going Country over the final fence in Saturday’s Grade 2 David “Zeke” Ferguson at Great Meadow. Tod Marks Photo.
By Sean Clancy
Kate Dalton rolled a leather shank, picked up two bandages and then stopped and stared.
“Princess.”
Down Royal, a white light 8-year-old mare stood across the back wall of a temporary tent stall at the International Gold Cup races, the sixth whistle stop on a 10-stop fall steeplechase champaign. Hours earlier, the New York-bred daughter of Alphabet Soup earned her third stakes win in 2022, rallying past City Dreamer over the last hurdle and holding off Going Country in Saturday’s Grade 2 David “Zeke” Ferguson stakes at the Great Meadow course in The Plains, Virginia.
Bred by Kate and her husband/jockey, Bernie, foaled at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs and owned by Joe Fowler Jr., the daughter of Alphabet Soup continued a revitalization which has copped six wins and a second in seven starts since coming off Lasix for her first start in 2021.
Consistent and steady before that, Down Royal has put together a string of success and a story for the ages.
Trained year-round in Camden, S.C., by the hard-working couple, Down Royal increased her lifetime earnings to $322,474 and yet again proved her durability and resiliency. She upset the Grade 1 A.P. Smithwick at Saratoga this summer, running her win streak to four and then finished off the board in the Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard. Undeterred, the Daltons regrouped and aimed at the Ferguson two months later.
She did the rest, settling in the back of the four-horse field before slipping through the inside to win on her own.
A fan leaned on the post and rail fence outside the winner’s circle and said it best.
“They’re good people.”
He was talking about the breeders, the owner, the trainer, the jockey and certainly the horse.
The Daltons campaigned her dam, Miss Crown, to two wins and a bunch of stakes placings over a 17-race career. They bred her to Alphabet Soup and started the journey. Where does the journey go next?
“What a star. Maybe you’ll see her next year,” Bernie Dalton said on his way to the scale after the stakes win.
Back at the barn at the end of the day, Kate Dalton wasn’t committing to anything.
“We always wanted to send her to Ireland to breed her to a National Hunt sire, she’s earned over $300,000,” Dalton said. “I took her out to show her to Joe and his wife after the race and she jumped up in the air and got her leg over the shank. Princess…”
