It's the bargain buy with a regal name that could barely win a race before he arrived in Canberra.
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Now Royal Monarch is racing on Melbourne Cup Day.
Sure, it might not be running in the race that stops a nation, but Canberra trainer John Rolfe has him set for the Federal (1300 metres) at Thoroughbred Park on Tuesday.
Since joining Rolfe's stables, the five-year-old gelding has won three of his eight starts and placed in another four.
It has Rolfe confident the son of Shamus Award could take out his first Federal.
He bought Royal Monarch for just $1500, but has already made that back in prizemoney more than 30 times over.
"We saw him on Inglis and he'd won one race and he looked like a horse we could do something with, improve and that," Rolfe said.
"At $1500 he was a cheap buy. As long as you can get something you can win a race with, that's what it's all about."
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Royal Monarch will go for a spell following Tuesday's race before returning for a tilt at the NSW Country Championships - which culminates in the $400,000 final at Randwick on April 3.
Rolfe said he could have drawn better than barrier 10, but apart from that he was happy with his charge.
"He'll go for a spell after tomorrow and then we'll bring him back for the country championships next February," he said.
"Try and get into the final of that and it's worth $400,000.
"He should be thereabouts [on Tuesday]. We're pretty confident he can nearly win. Just as long as he gets all the runs.
"If he drew a better barrier it would've been better, but you've got to take what you get.
"He can't do anymore than what he's done. He's never run a bad race for us. Would've preferred a drier track, but hopefully it dries out a bit before [Tuesday]."
Canberra Racing chief executive Andrew Clark hoped having two late races on their card would help ease some of the hit they'll take for having only 637 patrons allowed to attend - down from the usual 5000.
The Federal will jump at 6.03pm - the time slot that created their third-biggest betting turnover for a race last financial year.
It fell only behind the Black Opal and the Canberra Cup, drawing $1.7 million in turnover in 2019.
This Melbourne Cup Day they have an extra race after it with the hope they can build on last year's success.
It does mean they have almost a two-hour gap between their fourth and fifth races.
"It allows us to be on the prime slot, but I expect the turnover on the later races to be quite significant," Clark said.
"Our last race on Cup Day last year was our third highest turnover race of the year - even ahead of races like the National Sprint and the Canberra Guineas.
"It wouldn't make up the deficit [for the small crowd], but it helps us chip away - which we definitely need to do."