By Tom Frary
Sir Michael Stoute's Freemason Lodge stable is in a rich vein of form at present and so it was perhaps inevitable that Regal Reality (GB) (Intello {Ger}) would provide a 10th renewal for the yard in Sandown's G3 Matchbook Brigadier Gerard S. on Thursday. Trying this 10-furlong trip for the first time after a comeback third in the Apr. 26 G2 Sandown Mile, Cheveley Park Stud's homebred was fractious at times in the preliminaries and free to post but settled just enough in the expert hands of Ryan Moore in the race. Keeping tabs on the 11-8 market-leader Matterhorn (Ire) (Raven's Pass) as they tracked the pace set by Elwazir (GB) (Frankel {GB}), the 9-4 second favourite allowed his chief rival first run but brushed him aside with a furlong remaining en route to an impressive 3 3/4-length success in a smart time. Matterhorn had three lengths to spare over the well-regarded third-placed Danceteria (Fr) (Redoute's Choice {Aus}), lending the form a solid look not too far shy of group 1 standard.
“He is a little bit tricky at home and James and Sarah here did a fantastic job this evening,” Cheveley Park Stud's Chris Richardson said. “He has a huge amount of talent, but he is just his own personality. He is just growing up and is a bit immature mentally. Where we go from here will have to be thought about. He might just need to go somewhere to continue the experience of learning how to do it properly. If he does find something different to his routine, he will question it. I think the trip was ideal and in fairness Ryan has said all along to step him up to that trip and he looked to relish it. There is the [July 27] Group Two York Stakes and that might be an option for him.”
Coming to the fore when winning the G3 Thoroughbred S. over a mile at Goodwood in August, Regal Reality had been third in both the G3 Superior Mile on heavy ground at Haydock and the G2 Joel S. won by his now-famous stablemate Mustashry (GB) (Tamayuz {GB}) on good-to-firm at Newmarket the following month. He looked here to be crying out for this trip, which suited his G1 Prix du Jockey Club-winning sire so well but which was beyond the dam Regal Realm (GB) (Medicean {GB}) whose metier was over the seven-furlong trip at which she won Goodwood's G3 Oak Tree S. and G3 Prestige S. A granddaughter of the operation's G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Regal Rose (GB) (Danehill), the dam also has a yearling colt by Free Eagle (Ire).
Thursday, Sandown, Britain
MATCHBOOK BRIGADIER GERARD S.-G3, £70,000, Sandown, 5-23, 4yo/up, 9f 209yT, 2:05.84, gd.
1–REGAL REALITY (GB), 126, c, 4, by Intello (Ger)
1st Dam: Regal Realm (GB) (MGSW-Eng, $116,452), by Medicean (GB)
2nd Dam: Regal Riband (GB), by Fantastic Light
3rd Dam: Regal Rose (GB), by Danehill
O/B-Cheveley Park Stud Ltd (GB); T-Sir Michael Stoute; J-Ryan Moore. £39,697. Lifetime Record: 7-3-0-3, $167,596. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Matterhorn (Ire), 126, c, 4, Raven's Pass–Tanaghum (GB), by Darshaan (GB). (70,000gns Wlg '15 TATFOA). O-Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum; B-Barronstown Stud (IRE); T-Mark Johnston. £15,050.
3–Danceteria (Fr), 126, g, 4, Redoute's Choice (Aus)–Bal de La Rose (Ire), by Cadeaux Genereux (GB). (90,000gns RNA Ylg '16 TATOCT). O-Australian Bloodstock & Clive Washbourn; B-Berend Van Dalfsen (FR); T-David Menuisier. £7,532.
Margins: 3 3/4, 3, HF. Odds: 2.25, 1.35, 7.00.
Also Ran: Here Comes When (Ire), Bombyx (GB), Elwazir (GB). Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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