Tom Clover tasted Royal Ascot success for the first time when his filly Rogue Millenium (10/1) landed the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes on Tuesday.
The consistent daughter of Dubawi won the Listed Oaks Trial last season and arrived following a solid career-best second-place finish to Free Wind in the Group 2 Middleton Fillies' Stakes at York in May.
Random Harvest led the field along throughout the mile contest but faced challengers from all sides entering the final few furlongs. There were plenty of chances at the two pole with Jumbly seemingly travelling strongly but the same could be said for the eventual winner Rogue Millenium, who displayed her proven stamina on this first try over the mile trip to score by a neck under an all-action drive from Danny Tudhope. Random Harvest (22/1) battled on bravely to fill the runner-up spot for Ed Walker and Saffie Osborne while one of three co-favourites Prosperous Voyage (10/3) finished a further length back in third.
Clover said: "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 [Gallery, owners], 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.
"Rogue Millennium is 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, but she obviously outstayed us that day. In her work at home early on, she was travelling really well behind six or 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.
"I backed her – I was quietly confident. I thought she was in great form, A1. Danny got it absolutely spot on. He's a classy jockey and his record here speaks for itself. We haven't had a great year so far - we've had too many seconds and not enough winners. You need the luck to go your way, and we had the luck today. I am 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 [at Newcastle], which she was second in last year. If we had a chance of getting this on her page, it would make her worth more in the end, so The Rogues were sporting and agreed to go here. 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 and we're almost like family.
"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."
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. 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."
Ed Walker said of runner-up Random Harvest: "This time last year, she was just touched off in the Kensington Palace on a mark of 81, so she's come a long way since then. I am gutted, but very proud of her. Saffie is class – she's gutted but gave her a very good ride. We all absolutely knew that she would run better than her odds. She ran so well at Epsom. She never runs well first time out and the Dahlia was a disaster, but she's not done much wrong since then."
Asked where she may go next, he added: "I reckon we will go to the Falmouth, why not? There's nothing to lose, even if she gets placed in a Falmouth, that's massive and she's getting better with every run, barring her seasonal re-appearance."
Osborne added: "An unbelievable run. It's just testament to Lady Bamford for leaving Random Harvest in training after what she did last year. She keeps getting better and better and, after that performance, she's shown that she's plenty capable of competing at this level and hopefully another level up. Ed has done an amazing job with her, he's been so patient, and hopefully she is going to reap the rewards of that this year."
Prosperous Voyage's rider Frankie Dettori said: "She ran good. I think the pace was a bit slow for us. She was a good third."
