Rogue Millennium (10-1) came late and fast to land a superb victory in the Group Two Duke Of Cambridge Stakes on day two of Royal Ascot 2023.
The Tom Clover-trained four-year-old, under Danny Tudhope, came from well back in the pack to land a neck success from Random Harvest (22-1) with Ralph Beckett's recent Epsom scorer Prosperous Voyage, sent off the well-backed 10-3 co favourite to give Frankie Dettori a first winner of his final week at Royal Ascot, couldn't quite get there and was a further length adrift in third. Joseph O'Brien's Jumbly (10-3 co favourite) was back in fourth after he initially hit the front before fading in the final furlong. Rogue Millennium was bouncing back to some of the form she showed last year having took Lingfield Oaks Trial and finished placed three times in Group races, most recently being beaten by just half-a-length to Free Wind in the Middleton Stakes at York. But running over a mile for the first time, after her owners The Rogues Gallery syndicate had supplemented her for the Group Two last week, Rogue Millennium rewarded them handsomely.
Winning jockey Tudhope said: "I just want to say thank you to the team for letting me ride her. It's fantastic. I was a bit concerned through the race because they went quite steady and she's only ever run over a mile and a quarter [today's race was one mile]. This is the shortest trip she has run over, and they went quite slow, but she picked them up nicely. She ran a cracking race last time out at York in the Middleton Stakes and it was a big ask bringing her back in trip here today, but it was the right thing to do. There is plenty of class about her and to do what's she just done she has to be good."
Winning trainer Clover is likely to step Rogue Millennium up to Group One company with a trip to France later in the summer possible. He added: “It hasn’t really sunk in, to be honest. It’s unbelievable, really. You dream about this all year round, and we managed to go to the sales with our team to buy this filly for 35,000 grand for the Rogues, who have been huge supporters of mine. It’s just been amazing. It’s what we all do it for. I love the filly, I love training for the Rogues, and she’s just the most wonderful filly. She’s gorgeous to look at and she’s just improved from three to four. She just travels so strongly. You see her with Three Winds in the Middleton and she just travels so strong. She obviously outstayed us that day. In her work at home early on she was travelling really well behind six-, seven-furlong horses and finding it very easy. She’ll obviously be a broodmare at some stage and it's lovely to have some black type. It’s just fantastic.
“I backed her – I was quietly confident. I thought she was in great form, A1. We haven’t had a great year so far – we’ve had too many seconds and not enough winners, and you need the luck to go your way, and we had the luck today. Danny said they didn’t go anywhere hard and she was able to quicken up, which is great. I’m just so excited – for the Rogues, for us – and now we’ve got a Group One filly on our hands. I didn’t put her in the Falmouth – we might go to Deauville. It made sense to supplement her for the stiff mile here; it was either here or the Hoppings [Gr3 at Newcastle] and she was second in that last year, and if we had a chance for getting this on her page, it would make her worth more in the end, so the Rogues were sporting and agreed to go here. Danny got it absolutely spot on. He’s a classy jockey and his record here speaks for itself.
“A race like this is career-defining. I can now say I am a Royal Ascot-winning trainer, which is hugely important for us and for the whole team. It’s probably over-used, but it’s hugely important. The Rogues have been with me for four or five years, and they’ve grown from having six horses to 26. It’s a fantastic syndicate – we’re almost like family.”
Dettori, who retires at the end of the year, was again frustrated in his bid to land a winner in Berkshire this week. But on Prosperous Voyage, he said: “She ran good, I think the pace was a bit slow for us. She was a good third.”
