Tag Archive for: Clifford Lee

Venetian Sun stays unbeaten in Duchess of Cambridge Stakes

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Venetian Sun narrowly held off the late charge of Royal Fixation to win the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket and in the process take her unbeaten record to three.

Sent off the 2-5 favourite after a convincing Albany Stakes success at Royal Ascot, Venetian Sun travelled supremely well throughout the six-furlong Group Two and when Clifford Lee asked her to quicken, it looked a matter of how far.

Royal Fixation and William Buick had other ideas though, launching their challenge away from the market leader in the final furlong, with Venetian Sun’s margin only a neck in the end, although there was still a slightly cosy feel to it.

The Karl Burke-trained winner was left an unchanged 14-1 shot for next year’s 1000 Guineas by Paddy Power.

Burke said: “This race wasn’t part of the plan originally, we just made a decision last week to enter and have a look at the race and if we were happy with the filly and happy with the race then we might take our chance.

“There’s been no issues with the filly, but we haven’t trained her for this race – we’ve been fairly easy on her since Ascot, as you would expect, with the thought that we’d go for the Lowther at York or maybe the Prix Morny.

“Now she’s won a Group Two that brings the Morny into it more than the Lowther. We won’t say we’re definitely going to the Morny, but if the ground is a bit easier and it’s a race we think we can be very competitive in we could go there and still have time to get her ready for the Moyglare.

“If we’re not happy with her for the Morny, we’ll go straight to the Moyglare.”

Venetian Sun and jockey Clifford Lee after winning the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket
Venetian Sun and jockey Clifford Lee after winning the Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket (Joe Giddens/PA)

Burke completed the Albany/Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes double with Dandalla five years ago, while Laurens and Fallen Angel were both Classic-winning fillies for the Spigot Lodge handler, who has made no secret of the regard in which he holds his latest potential star.

“I would say she’s another league above Dandalla, who was a very good racehorse but this filly is a little bit special,” he added.

“She’d be quicker than Laurens and Fallen Angel. They were high-class, Group One-winning fillies and this filly hasn’t done that yet, but she’d be a lot quicker and she’s a very straightforward filly with a fantastic mind.”

Ed Walker was delighted with the performance of runner-up Royal Fixation.

He said: “I’m very proud of her. You come in here off the back of a Thirsk maiden and you don’t really know how good you are, but she’s very good.

“It would have been disappointing if she had run badly as we rate her very highly among our two-year-olds, but to run that filly (Venetian Sun) as close as we did is pretty exciting because I think she’s a very special filly.

“Briefly I thought we might get there. I could just sense from Will’s body language that he thought he had a chance.

“I think she was a bit green. She never came off the bridle at Thirsk so today is the first time she’s had a proper race. There’s lots more to come, I’d say.

“I don’t know where we’ll go next – I’ll have a cold beer and worry about that later. The Lowther has got to be a potential target.”

Royal Dress scores in fine fashion at Pontefract

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Royal Dress justified strong market support with an emphatic victory in the Weatherbys Hamilton Pipalong Stakes at Pontefract.

James Tate’s mare won at Listed and Group Three level last season and kicked off the current campaign by finishing third behind See The Fire in the Middleton Stakes at York.

Having since placed fourth in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes at Epsom on Derby day, Royal Dress was a well-backed 85-40 favourite dropping back to Listed class in West Yorkshire and after being coaxed into contention by a confident Clifford Lee from the home turn, she finished off strongly once given her head to score by a widening three and a quarter lengths from Cheshire Dancer.

Tate told Racing TV: “We reinvented her last year as a mile/mile and one (furlong) filly with a hood and I just felt after her first two runs back maybe we didn’t need the hood any more, I think that really helped her in the last furlong or two.

“Cliff is a really good jockey, we always do really well together and he gave her a great ride. He made all the right decisions, to take her back a little bit early because they were going a strong pace, to angle out wide rather than riding for luck because he felt he was on the best horse in the race and we enjoyed the last furlong when he had a cheeky look round!”

Paddy Power cut Royal Dress to 16-1 from 25-1 for the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood on July 31 and Tate is not ruling out a tilt at Group One glory on the Sussex Downs.

“Do we try to win a Group Two or a Group Three, or do we try to go for an each-way run in one of the big races and say we finish in the first three that would be worth it for value, because she’s obviously a valuable, well-bred broodmare,” he added.

“I think we’ll just take each race as it comes and see how she is.”