The remarkable three-year-old filly Princess of Sylmar brought her season to a close by upsetting two-time Eclipse champion Royal Delta in the $400,000 Beldame Invitational (gr. I) on September 28th at Belmont Park.
Ridden to victory by Javier Castellano, Princess of Sylmar settled back in fourth place early on as Roman Invader and 3-10 favorite Royal Delta led the way through very quick fractions of :23.78, :46.71, and 1:10.53. Rounding the final turn, Princess of Sylmar rallied along the inside of Centring and then shifted to the outside to take aim at Royal Delta. The pair struggled briefly for command of the lead, afterwhich Princess of Sylmar took command and drew off under mostly a hand ride to win by a very impressive two lengths. The final time for nine furlongs was a quick 1:47.93 seconds.
Royal Delta stumbled briefly at the start, and seemed to lack a bit of her usually vigor during the early stages of the race, but nevertheless ran very well in defeat. She finished 6 3/4 lengths clear of third-place finisher Centring, who was in turn 4 1/4 lengths in front of And Why Not. Roman Invader trailed the field.
For Princess of Sylmar, the Beldame marked her fourth consecutive grade I triumph, following victory in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), Coaching Club American Oaks (gr. I), and Alabama Stakes (gr. I). Trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by King of Prussia Stable, Princess of Sylmar has compiled a record of eight wins, one second, and one fourth from ten career starts, with earnings of $1,607,220.
Princess of Sylmar is a Pennsylvania-bred daughter of Majestic Warrior out of Storm Dixie, by Catienus.
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