Duke Very Impressive in Prince of Wales´s Duke Of Marmalade gave jockey Johnny Murtagh and trainer Aidan O´Brien their third Royal Ascot winner of the week with a brilliant victory in the Prince of Wales´s Stakes at Royal Ascot. The four-year-old stormed clear in the final furlong to quickly put daylight between himself and his rivals. The even-money favourite went on to win impressively by four lengths from Phoenix Tower (7-1), who was a short-head in front of Pipedreamer (11-1). Murtagh had Duke Of Marmalade well away but Petara Bay and O´Brien´s second string Red Rock Canyon led the field in the early stages. Red Rock Canyon soon established a clear lead from Petara Bay with Pressing third and Duke Of Marmalade ideally placed just behind in fourth. Pressing hit the front two furlongs out but there was no containing Murtagh once he switched Duke Of Marmalade towards the centre of the course to make his challenge. The response was instant, with the market leader romping home to give O´Brien and Murtagh their first success in this Group One showpiece. O´Brien said: "He´s an unbelievable horse, he´s the real deal. "He had pins in his legs last year and he had bad fractures in his legs after Goodwood as a two-year-old. Last year we were never really able to train him as he was semi-lame all the time. "He wasn´t able to use himself the way he is able to this year and he´s very athletic now. "This year he´s shown more pace but you´d say, looking at him, that he wouldn´t have a problem going further than a mile and a quarter either. "He has a lot of options open to him and he´s travelling and quickening very well this year." Murtagh added: "He was the first horse that I rode when I came back from Dubai. "He´s up there with the best horses I´ve ever ridden and today was the big target. "He´s been showing speed at home and I ride him in a lot of his work. As Aidan says, if we had five or six like him we´d be very happy." Henry Cecil was happy enough with the effort of Phoenix Tower, but was quick to salute the winner. He said: "He ran really well and is still improving. There was a bit of scrimmaging at the beginning but I don´t think it made the difference between winning and losing. He might have been a length or two closer. "I´m very pleased and he has run on well, but he has finished second and not first. "He is in the Eclipse and the Juddmonte International at York, but I think I underestimated Duke Of Marmalade. I didn´t realise quite how good he was." Pipedreamer´s trainer John Gosden said: "I was absolutely thrilled with that. The winner is clearly the best, but it was a great run nonetheless. "We can stay in Group Ones but there will be nice Group Twos and Threes over a mile or a mile and one, so we´ll play it by ear."
