Personal Ensign next for Royal Delta

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Saratoga Springs, NY (Sports Network) - Eclipse Award winner Royal Delta came out of Saturday's Delaware Handicap in good shape and will make her next start in the Personal Ensign on Aug. 26 at Saratoga Race Course. It will be her first start at the historic track since winning last year's Alabama.

Trained by Bill Mott, Royal Delta won the Del 'Cap by a neck over 28-1 longshot Tiz Miz Sue as the 1-2 favorite. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith was aboard the four-year-old filly for owner Besilu Stables.

"She's extremely talented, and that's what it takes to win a race like this. Delaware is a great, great track, but it's demanding. It's a good, old- fashioned kind of racetrack, and you need a horse that really takes to it. I was just lucky I was on the mare I rode," Smith noted after the win.

Voted 2011 champion three-year-old filly, Royal Delta was back at her Saratoga barn Sunday morning. The filly locked up the division title last year by winning the Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic at Churchill Downs.

"She's proud of herself," Mott said. "She's walking around like she never ran. She's doing well. I'm hoping to run her in the Personal Ensign. That would be the plan."

The filly has won seven times in 12 lifetime starts for $2,263,851.