Duke Of Cambridge Stakes |
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| Group 2, Ascot 15:40 £201,500 added, 4yo plus, 1m, Class 1  |
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| Wednesday 21st June 2017 | |
1 Qemah 5/2F
2 Aljazzi 40/1
3 Usherette 11/4
14 ran NR: Absolute Blast, Laugh Aloud Distances: ¾l, nk, ¾l
Time: 1m 38.34s (fast by 0.26s)
Another for France as Qemah wins
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The Jean Claude-Rouget-trained Qemah registered consecutive victories at Royal Ascot with a game success.
Winner of the G1 Coronation Stakes at last year's Royal Meeting, the four-year-old daughter of Danehill Dancer travelled beautifully throughout the mile event and quickened up nicely under Gregory Benoist to register a three-quarter length success from 40/1 shot, Aljazzi, trained by Marco Botti, in second.
Andre Fabre's Usherette, was a further neck behind in third.
Second at Lingfield in a G3 last time, Qemah was too keen that day and Rouget, gaining his third victory at the Royal Meeting, was delighted with his charge's performance.
He said: "Congratulations must go to the filly, jockey and the staff at home including her lad Jerome, who does a wonderful job with her.
"We do strong work with her every day as she is a bit delicate, but I was happy to see her before the race today because she looked a different filly from Lingfield last time - there was a big change in her.
"I hope now that she will continue to improve for the rest of the season.
"She will now go to Deauville for the Prix Rothschild and then certainly the Matron [Stakes] after that."
Al Shaqab's Racing Manager Harry Herbert said: "She was much calmer today and much more settled. Gregory said she was the same filly this year as when she won the Coronation Stakes.
"She is a high-class filly and as a Group One winning filly running in here without a penalty, she should have been winning this. She needed her run at Lingfield last time to get the buzziness out of her, so it's very exciting.
"It was fantastic viewing. The conditions of the race suited her. She still had to do it on the day but she was very impressive."
Duke Of Cambridge Stakes
(Fillies' Group 2) (Formerly the Windsor Forest Stakes) (Str)
£201,500 added, 4yo plus, 1m, Class 1
14 ran
Going: Good to Firm
| Pos | Dr | D | Horse SP | Jockey Weight | Trainer | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | (10) | Qemah (IRE) 5/2f | Gregory Benoist 9-0 |
J C Rouget | 4 | |
| 2nd | (14) | ¾ | Aljazzi 40/1 | A Kirby 9-0 |
M Botti | 4 |
| 3rd | (13) | nk | Usherette (IRE) 11/4 | M Barzalona 9-0 |
A Fabre | 5 |
| 4th | (11) | ¾ | Smart Call (SAF) 9/2 | R L Moore 9-0 |
Sir Michael Stoute | 6 |
| 5th | (15) | 2 | Aim To Please (FR) 40/1 | P McDonald 9-0 |
F Doumen | 4 |
| 6th | (7) | ½ | Turret Rocks (IRE) 16/1 | K J Manning 9-0 |
J S Bolger | 4 |
| 7th | (16) | hd | Dawn Of Hope (IRE) 33/1 | Andrea Atzeni 9-0 |
R Varian | 4 |
| 8th | (9) | 2¼ | Pirouette 14/1 | Jim Crowley 9-0 |
H Morrison | 4 |
| 9th | (8) | nk | Greta G (ARG) 14/1 | O Peslier 8-13 |
J H M Gosden | 4 |
| 10th | (3) | nk | Furia Cruzada (CHI) 66/1 | Aurelien Lemaitre 9-0 |
S Kobayashi | 6 |
| 11th | (4) | 5 | Same Jurisdiction (SAF) 125/1 | Gavin Lerena 9-0 |
E A L Dunlop | 6 |
| 12th | (1) | 1 | Mix And Mingle (IRE) 8/1 | W Buick 9-0 |
C F Wall | 4 |
| 13th | (12) | 3½ | Opal Tiara (IRE) 33/1 | Oisin Murphy 9-3 |
M R Channon | 4 |
| 14th | (2) | 1½ | Summer Icon 150/1 | G Lee 9-0 |
M R Channon | 4 |
| NR | (5) | Absolute Blast (IRE) | Non Runner 9-0 |
Archie Watson | 5 | |
| NR | (6) | Laugh Aloud | James Doyle 9-0 |
J H M Gosden | 4 |
BENOIST HAS WINNING QEMAH-STRY
French jockey Gregory Benoist has struck up a Royal Ascot-winning streak on Qemah.
Benoist said: "Qemah ran like she did last year. She was very quiet before the race whereas last time at Lingfield she was a bit excited first time out.
"Today with the good ground and pace in the race, she was ready. We are very happy to win two times in Royal Ascot with Qemah.
"The ground was different to the Coronation when it was a bit soft. Today was good ground and she has run many times in France on good ground. She loves that. She is a good filly and can go anywhere."
ALJAZZI HAS BEVERLEY D IN HER SIGHTS NEXT
Aljazzi ran a huge race at 40/1 to finish second for trainer Marco Botti and jockey Adam Kirby. The four-year-old Shamardal filly was beaten just three-quarters of a length by the French-trained 5/2 favourite, Qemah.
Botti said: "I am delighted. I actually thought dropping back to a mile would be her best trip. She likes the ground and she tries very hard.
"It's great that she's got some black type. We try to achieve as much black type as we can so we might aim for something in America, like the [Grade One] Beverley D Stakes (Arlington Park) in August.
"She wants a bit of time between races and she obviously had a hard race today so we aren't in a rush to do anything."
Usherette, winner of this race last year and 11/4 to repeat her success for trainer Andre Fabre, finished strongly a neck further back in third.
Jockey Mickael Barzalona said: "She ran well."
