Family Fun With Royal Delta, Racing's Princess

Among the highlights of the recent Keeneland November breeding stock sale were the fireworks generated by Royal Delta and her family.

Winner of the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic (gr. I) Nov. 4, Royal Delta commanded the sale-topping price of $8.5 million four days later. Her dam, Delta Princess, who is in foal to Distorted Humor, brought $2.6 million. And Royal Delta's weanling half sister by Smart Strike was sold for $1.6 million.

All were offered in the dispersal of stock owned by the late Prince Saud bin Khaled's Palides Investments, which was handled by his Kentucky-based Chanteclair Farm.

Ron Wallace, the general manager of Palides and Chanteclair, knows Royal Delta and her family well and offered some interesting information about their personalities and abilities.

Delta Princess (by A.P. Indy), who was a grade III winner "is tough; she's a lot more competitive than Royal Delta," Wallace said. "But Royal Delta is way more athletic and she hasn't even quite figured it all out (about racing). She is going to be incredible as a 4-year-old. She was laid back in the paddock (at the Churchill Downs before her Ladies' Classic effort). Here (at Keeneland), she's a star, but she doesn't care. Her mother would eat horses alive in front of her; she was going to win no matter what. Royal Delta is just good (because of her natural ability). If she learns to be competitive, watch out."

Royal Delta's weanling half sister is "a little smaller than Royal Delta, but she has the same temperament - nice and easy, no problems," Wallace said. "Delta Princess' foals are all about the same. They are all straightforward."