Lucia Valentina Wins Cracking Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes

Lucia Valentina capped a golden day for Kris Lees when she stormed over the top of a quality field to win the $4m Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Day 2 of The Championships at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

After winning the Provincial Championships earlier in the day with Danish Twist, Lees sent out his stable star in the biggest race of the autumn and she delivered with Damien Oliver on board to beat The United States by 2 ¼ lengths with Happy Clapper in third.

It was the first time she won, and finished in the top three, second-up, in what was a great training performance by the Newcastle horseman who brought her into the race on a three week break between runs.



A barrier trial in between kept Lucia Valentina ($7.60) fit and fresh for her grand final as she trounced a top-line field.

“It’s very rewarding when you set a horse for a race so far out. I just thought I had to do something a bit different, thinking I would be taking on Winx to be fair,” Lees said.

“She’s got a terrific turn of foot, she’s so effective at 2000 metres and she loves a gap between runs, I don’t know why it took me so long to do it. I just wanted to get her here with fresh legs, she didn’t have a spell, she just had a little bit of time off so she got here in really good order. I had no doubt about her being effective second up.”

Lees described the moment as one of his finest.

“She looked in a lot of trouble on the turn, she dipped and went down on her nose but I just knew she had that blistering turn of foot if she got a bit of clear running and he rides her so well too, it’s a great result,” Lees said.
 
“All my staff have done a wonderful job with her, she can be a bit of a handful, I’m just so happy.
 
“It’s starting to become Sydney’s number one race and I feel very honoured to win it.”
 
Hall of Fame jockey Oliver said the win ranked highly despite Lucia Valentina appearing to lose footing at the top of the straight.
 
“It’s pretty amazing. You never get sick of it. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’m certainly in the home straight of my career. You certainly cherish these moments at the end of your career,” Oliver said.
 
 “It has been a wonderful day and I don’t want it to end.”
 
Click on the following link for results & video replays - >The Championships Day 2 - Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes Day</u></a>