Royal Flag might be star in making

In December, Royal Flag faced three foes in a muddytrack maiden race at Aqueduct, overwhelming them coming off the turn and drawing away to post an eight-length victory at odds of 3-10. It was fair to wonder if the wide margin was a true marker of Royal Flag’s ability since Royal Flag ran up the score over a wet track and in a short field.

But Feb. 7 at Gulfstream Park, Royal Flag quieted skeptical burbling, winning a first-level allowance race over better horses by nine lengths. Royal Flag is up in class again Sunday at Churchill Downs when she starts in the featured ninth race, a second-level allowance with a $62,500 claiming option carded for 1 1/16 miles on dirt and restricted to females.

Royal Flag, a Will Farish homebred trained by Chad Brown, is a 4-year-old filly by Candy Ride out of Sea Gull, whose first foal to race was Eagle, a Grade 3 dirtroute winner, and whose third foal to race was Catalina Cruiser, a five-time Grade 2 winner. Royal Flag posted her first workout during August of her 2-yearold season, and by the time she debuted last September she had logged 27 works spread across 13 months. Horses with this sort of profile can prove brittle even after getting into a racing pattern. It remains to be seen how things develop with Royal Flag, but she can run. The filly goes with her head held low, traveling easily while displaying useful positional pace, and she looks like a filly who can get at least 1 1/8 miles.

As a betting proposition Sunday, she’ll hold less appeal, and probably will go off well below anything approaching fair value, since there is some real competition entered.

Saracosa has been facing some of the best female dirt horses in North America and drops into allowance competition after finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom, beaten only about three lengths by victorious Ce Ce. The start before, she finished third as Serengeti Empress ran away with the Azeri Stakes, and her previous start came in the Houston Ladies Classic. The Apple Blossom did feature a frenetic early and middle pace that flattered all the closers, Saracosa among them.

More Roses has started her career with two blowout wins but is tough to read. She won a maiden race by more than six lengths and a first-level allowance by 5 1/2, but both races were rained from turf onto dirt and came late last spring at Indiana Grand. More Roses is joined in the field by her Brad Cox-trained stablemate Razeena.

Deflated odds or not, Royal Flag still looms the most likely winner as she marches toward stakes competition.

Following the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s spring sale on June 9-12, there are three more major-market venues remaining to sell 2-year-olds this season.

Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training

June 29-30, Timonium, Md. (Under-tack preview show June 24-26)

This sale has grown in numbers and popularity in recent years, evolving beyond a solid regional sale into a marketplace that has produced seven-figure horses in five consecutive years. Last year, the sale-record $1.8 million filly Gamine helped the auction finish with record gross and average figures. This year, the sale could get added luster as juveniles intended for other boutique auctions, such as the canceled Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale, are rerouted here.

Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. July sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age

July 14-17, Ocala, Fla.

(Under-tack preview show July 6-11)

Traditionally held in late June but postponed this year, this auction typically caps off

the juvenile auction season, providing an option on the calendar for late bloomers, juveniles who were forced to scratch from other auctions for various reasons, and those who failed to meet their reserve at an earlier venue. That will become even more important this year. The sale also offers a selection of active racehorses.

Fasig-Tipton Kentucky selected horses of racing age

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July 13, Lexington, Ky.

This sale, which was first held in 2013 as a companion to Fasig-Tipton’s Kentucky July yearling sale, has grown by leaps and bounds, eventually necessitating its own day on the calendar. With the yearling sale absorbed into a new September auction as a result of the disrupted calendar, the horses of racing age session stands on its own – and could provide one more venue for juveniles to be sold.