by Jeff Lowe
Regal Band, the dam of 2001 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Monarchos, died on April 9 at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington.
The 20-year-old mare by Dixieland Band out of Regal Roberta, by Roberto, was being treated for a long-term illness symptomatic of liver failure. She was carrying an Empire Maker colt, due in late May.
Owner J. D. Squires purchased Regal Band privately for $14,000 from Darby Dan Farm after she failed to meet her reserve on a final bid of $15,000 in the 1995 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale.
Squires privately sold Monarchos, by Maria’s Mon, as a yearling to Murray Smith for $100,000. Smith sold the colt for $170,000 to John Oxley in the 2000 Fasig-Tipton Calder selected sale of two-year-olds in training.
Trained by John Ward Jr., Monarchos won the Florida Derby (G1) by 4 1/2 lengths in his stakes debut and followed with a clear win in the Kentucky Derby in 1:59.97.
Regal Band produced nine of her ten foals at Squires’s Two Bucks Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, including Monarchos, her fourth live foal.
“She leaves a great void in our lives,” Squires said. “[T]wo of her daughters still live here. We have Monarchos babies from every crop. So she left all of us at Two Bucks a treasure trove of great memories, the grandest of which was watching her most celebrated son win the greatest race in the world in spectacular fashion and in a time second only to Secretariat.”
Monarchos stands for $7,500 at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Kentucky.
Bred in Kentucky by James and Joan Phillips, Regal Band is the dam of five winners from eight starters. Her final foal, a two-year-old Empire Maker filly named Empiress, will race for Rocinante Stable with trainer Rusty Arnold.
Regal Band won three of 18 career starts and earned $86,865.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer