Cairo Prince’s classy 3-year-old filly Royal Charlotte got her fifth win in six lifetime starts on Saturday in the $250,000 Prioress S., defeating a pair of previously undefeated fillies and atoning for her only loss to date in last month’s Test S. (G1).
“She didn’t do any running in the Test, but she wasn’t handling the track that day,” said trainer Chad Brown after Saturday’s win. “I just had noticed that the past couple of weeks the track has changed in the morning, and I think it might just be the climate. But for whatever reason, the track has been playing differently in the morning and I didn’t have anywhere else to run her.”
Royal Charlotte was in the back of the compact five-horse field early, but was never more than three lengths from the front. Break Even, who was six-for-six lifetime coming in, set very fast fractions of :21.87 and :44.76. At the top of the stretch, Break Even began to edge clear and looked like a winner, but Royal Charlotte swung to her outside and ran her down late, drawing off to win by 1 1/2-lengths in 1:09.45 for the six furlongs.
Winner of the Victory Ride S. (G3) and Hystericalady S. before Saturday, Royal Charlotte upped her earnings to $346,900 for First Row Partners and Parkland Thoroughbreds. She was bred by Rhineshire Farm LLC and is one of seven stakes horses this term for Cairo Prince, who is current ranked third on the Second-Crop Sire list.
Pedigree Notes from the TDN
Royal Charlotte is one of two graded winners and five stakes winners for her successful young stallion, four of which descend from Storm Cat-line dams (two from mares by Harlan’s Holiday, one by Tale of the Cat and the other by the latter’s son Lion Heart). Royal Charlotte is the first foal for her dam, whose 2- year-old son of Constitution fetched $135,000 at this year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2YO In Training Sale.
