Does Royal Delta Have A Shot?
 

I think she does if "Captain" Mike gets her in a good spot heading for home she has the class and the raw speed,1 1/4 might be her limit but Mott seems to be confident and Mike Smith fits like a glove,I'm hoping she will go at 5-1 or better!
If she does she will get my bet:eek:

Yeah, she's got a shot to finish about 6th.....still, it's cool they are taking a shot.

I don't love American horses in these races. There are a number of things that go into running there that have been explained and make winning very tough.

However, she has a shot. This is a TERRIBLE World Cup. Capponi, Side Glance, Red Cadeaux, Monterrosso, and African Story are all in the wrong race or in the race for the wrong reasons. Capponi hasn't run since last year's WC, Side Glance has been ineffective beyond a mile (African Story as well), Red Cadeaux is a distance horse, and Monterrosso was awful in his comeback earlier in March.

The rest of the international contingent is made up of Treasure Beach, who hasn't won since the 2011 Secretariat, Hunter's Light, the recently purchased pair of Planteur and Meandre, and Kassiano. Hunter's Light is a deserving favorite based on his prior efforts at the Carnival. However, even this weak field is tougher than what he's faced all winter. Kassiano drew a horrible post and seems to find trouble with regularity.

The stuff people are saying about her not handling the surface last year is garbage. If you watch the replay closely, the race was lost for her on the 2nd turn. She got shuffled out in traffic and that was it. Even before that, Lezcano wrangled her back after she broke alertly. Smith is likely to let her get into the race a little earlier, which is a good thing, as this race is routinely run in a dawdle. In three synth runnings, the winner has been prominent the entire way. She'll be a crazy underlay at her likely price, but yes, she has a shot.

Stupid question but how does that surface play, more like Kee or more like HP?

More like Keeneland.

This line made me laugh cause i was wondering if I was the only one who thought so.

Haven't kept up with Dubai this year for the first year in quite a while and really don't find this race all too interesting.

Good luck to the Americans and to Planteur...hard-trying and very good horse who never seems to live up to what could have been (but comes close).

Personally I'm holding my breath waiting to see if Eagle Regiment is scratched (from the Al Quoz Sprint). He was scratched last year on race day and is having issues once again. Disappointing.

Joy and Fun is the other hk horse in that one and while I'm a huge fan (and have fingers crossed they can hold his tail like they do in hk so he doesn't blow the start again this year) the one I'm very interestred in is Mr. Big.

I'd assume he'll go off at pretty good odds, not known on the international stage (but in Singapore has never been off the board in 19 starts...(10-6-3) and has Zac Purton up who is absolutely on fire these days (hk).

The other race I can't wait to play is the Duty Free but that one, once again, has a very nice field.

Anyway I'd be happy to see Ms. Delta win. Not holding my breath but it would be nice. :)

Totally agree! No value here in the states. I will be cheering her on as a fan!

Smith will move too early or the horse will go too fast early and RD will get gobbled up late and finish 4th. After the race, he will use his patented "The horse was doing it so easily..." line to excuse his early move/too fast/wide for no reason ride.

Looks like she's doing well in training there:

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...dan?source=rss

She worked :35.64 over three furlongs yesterday.

Agreed.

By accounts, she looks to be in fine form, is getting over the tapeta well and is eager to run.

I love Royal Delta but I really don't believe this is her surface or distance, and that she'll once again end end up a non factor.
Hard for me to look past Hunters Light who's been very sharp on synthetic.
From the American side I like Animal Kingdom the most.

Nice to see you here Jim. Been a long time.