Trainer Bill Mott said Oct. 30 that a laceration sustained by 2012 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic favorite Royal Delta on her right hip was superficial and should not pose any problems for the daughter of Empire Maker. The Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships will take place Nov. 2-3 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

Owned by Besilu Stables, Royal Delta is the morning line favorite to defend the Ladies’ Classic, which she won impressively in 2011 en route to an Eclipse Award.

Mott said the filly sustained the cut when she was entering a stall on the plane transporting her from Stewart Airport in Newburgh, N.Y., to Southern California. A veterinarian closed the wound and gave Royal Delta a tetanus shot.

"She’s good," Mott said of the filly’s status the morning of Oct. 30. "The site that was sutured looked really good. If it stays the way it is right now, it will be a non-issue as far as her performance. There are a lot of things that can happen to horses that we can’t see that are a lot worse than that. This is just a layer of skin that got sewn back. That’s it