Impressive newcomer scores for Royal Ascot winners Last June’s Royal Ascot winning trio of jockey Billy Lee, trainer Henry De Bromhead and owner Chris Jones today landed the Curragh’s Final Furlong Podcast With 1xBet.ie Maiden, with impressive newcomer Victory Tip (16/1). The trio had combined to win the Ascot Stakes with Ascending last June and, today, were represented by Invincible Army-sired Victory Tip, who was sluggish in rear in the early stages of the 23-runner race. Jockey Lee showed his acclaimed patience when scoring on Victory Tip, who gathered speed gradually and arrived with a late challenge to beat Joe Cool by 1.25 lengths. Lee commented “he just sliced up through them, it’s tiring ground but he went through it no problem. He’s a nice horse and I had a job pulling him up. He’s probably the only horse today that went to the white barriers (at the pull-up area) and he’s just probably a good horse.” He added “Henry (De Bromhead) said to try and get him settled in mid-division, but he walked out of the stalls. I tried to get across to follow the Ballydoyle duo but we went a good gallop and he went asleep, so I left him alone. It was first time out so I let him find his feet. “We got to halfway and gave him a squeeze and he started to come alive, and I just worked my way up through the field to teach him as much as I could, but he kept coming forward. When I got to the furlong-and-a-half, I knew if I found a bit more I’d be hard to beat and it was a nice performance. “Chris Jones owns him and he might have one eye on going hurdling. He’s a nice horse and off that performance there is plenty to look forward to.” Quotes from Gary Carson
