Billy Lee’s excellent start to the week at Royal Ascot continued when he steered Carmers to victory in the Group 2 Queen’s Vase Stakes on Wednesday.
Just 24 hours on from riding the Henry De Bromhead-trained Ascending to victory in the Ascot Stakes, Billy Lee was back in the winners' enclosure at the Berkshire venue after partnering Paddy Twomey's Carmers to success in the Queen's Vase.
A winner of his first two outings, which included a smooth success in Listed company over a similar trip at Navan 32 days ago, the son of Wootton Bassett was sent off a 9/2 chance to extend his unbeaten record to three.
After tracking Ryan Moore on Aidan O'Brien's Shackleton, Billy Lee took things up rounding the final bend before asking his mount for more in the straight. Those in behind attempted to bridge the gap up the run in, but to his credit, Carmers continued to find for pressure and eventually stayed on stoutly to land the prize by three quarters of a length to Furthur, who in turn, finished a neck clear of Roger Varian's Rahiebb.
Carmers won in a time of 2m 59.53s, bettering the previous record of 3m 0.57s set by Illinois in this race last year.
Twomey, who was enjoying his first success at the Royal meeting, said: "I appreciate being sent nice horses, and it's great that he went and delivered for Fiona [Carmichael] today.
"Carmers is a very important horse for her. I knew he would stay, and I knew turning in that Billy looked comfortable. When the bell rang, I thought that we had a chance because staying is his game."
Paddy Power cut the winner to 12/1 for the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster in September, with Twomey quick to confirm the unexposed three-year-old would have an entry.
He said: "He is obviously going to have an entry in the St Leger; we will see. He has run three times, won three times, and hopefully he continues doing that.
"We have nice horses and good owners, and it's fantastic to be able to come here with them. This is my first Royal Ascot winner. We did have winners at Cheltenham and Aintree last season."
On how the race panned out for him, winning rider Billy Lee added: "The race went to plan all the way. He jumped well and had a great position.
"I was able to just hack away, but I got him rolling early from five out just to get him going forward; he takes a while to build up a head of steam and I knew he would stay well.
"I love coming here – it is the pinnacle of our sport. Me and Colin [Keane] are after riding the winners and it is great for the Irish lads to be riding winners here. Paddy is a big part
now of my career and it's great to deliver his first Royal Ascot winner. Hopefully, this is the first of many."
