3 minute read
Famous Royal meeting success for Gavin Cromwell and Gary Carroll.
Quick Suzy provided trainer Gavin Cromwell and jockey Gary Carroll with their first Royal Ascot success in the Queen Mary Stakes.
Carroll delivered Quick Suzy from off the pace on the stands side to challenge favourite and eventual runner-up Twilight Gleaming a furlong out, stretching clear to win by a length and a quarter at 8-1 – with 50-1 outsider Cheerupsleepyjean almost another two lengths back in third.
County Meath trainer Cromwell is more often associated with success over jumps – including at Grade One level at the Cheltenham Festival – but is adept on the Flat, too.
Quick Suzy, a maiden winner at the Curragh last month and then a Group Three runner-up at Naas, has nonetheless broken new ground for the yard with her Group Two victory.
Cromwell said: "She won her maiden very well, it was an auction maiden that doesn't carry as much weight, she was very convincing there – then she went to a Group Three the last day in Naas and just didn't quite see out the six furlongs on soft ground. But she showed blistering pace, so we were definitely coming here.
"(The fast ground) was an unknown, she's a very good mover but she'd never raced on it."
Asked to compare Royal meeting success with Cheltenham Festival glory, Cromwell – who won the Champion Hurdle in 2019 with Espoir D'Allen – added: "It's centre stage and any race when you're centre stage is fantastic.
"On a stage like this, you're definitely going to get a buzz."
The daughter of Profitable was recently bought by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners LLC, and Cromwell said: "The plan was she was to remain with me for Royal Ascot and then she was going to go to America. You wouldn't know, but we might get to twist their arm and hold on to her and go to the Breeders' Cup."
Carroll said: "Every step of the way I was trying to make sure the American horse didn't get first run on me. She's game and she battled all the way.
"I rode her over six furlongs at Naas where she showed so much natural speed. You need these big wins to get yourself on the platform."
Twilight Gleaming, trainer Wesley Ward said: "We did everything right, but didn't win. It was a clean trip and the first two fillies came clear. It was a good run.
"We've come back before and we might do that (run again in Britain) this time."
