Queen of Bermuda takes big next step
Queen Of Bermuda captured the greatest prize of her young career on Saturday, when she romped to victory at the prestigious Ayr Gold Cup meeting in Scotland.
The two-year-old, owned by Bermuda Thoroughbred Racing and trained in Newmarket on the English east coast by the esteemed William Haggas, won the William Hill Firth Of Clyde Stakes by two lengths, earning a career-best £36,862 (about $48,000).
Tackling six furlongs and heavy ground for the first time, the 9-2 favourite was held up by jockey Joe Fanning in the early exchanges before making headway on the stands side two furlongs out.
Travelling smoothly in search of the early pace, Queen Of Bermuda chased down the leaders, edging left under pressure, and then sped away in the final furlong to win her first race in Pattern company by an ever-increasing distance.
The triumph was the filly's fourth in eight appearances since making her debut at Royal Ascot in May and comes after a runner-up finish to the impressive Soldier's Call in a five-furlong group three race in Chantilly, France, on September 1.
That form has since been franked by the Archie Watson-trained bay colt, who made all in a valuable group two at Doncaster ten days ago.
Queen Of Bermuda, by Exceed and Excel out of Imperialistic Diva, took her career earnings to $120,000.
Eleven ran, with Shumookhi second at 11-2 under Edward Greatrex and Light My Fire third a length farther behind at 5-1 second favourite under Richard Kingscote.
“She is a very talented young filly and extraordinarily genuine for such a little girl,” Simon Scupham, the chairman of BTR, said. “We are considering supplementing her for the group one Cheveley Park Stakes at a cost of £20,000. This is effectively the champion two-year-old fillies race over six furlongs. The race is next Saturday at Newmarket; we will see how she is Monday morning.”

Need to
Know

2. Please respect the use of this community forum and its users.
3. Any poster that insults, threatens or verbally abuses another member, uses defamatory language, or deliberately disrupts discussions will be banned.
4. Users who violate the Terms of Service or any commenting rules will be banned.
5. Please stay on topic. "Trolling" to incite emotional responses and disrupt conversations will be deleted.
6. To understand further what is and isn't allowed and the actions we may take, please read our Terms of Service