Eight months ago, doctors questioned if Clifford Lee would ever walk and talk again after an horrendous cross-country motorbike crash left him in a coma with a broken vertebra and internal bleeding.
Fast forward to Royal Ascot and the affable 30-year-old completed his miraculous return to race riding with an emotional victory aboard hot favourite Venetian Sun who withstood the late charge of big outsider Spicy Marg to give Brighton Football Club owner Tony Bloom another Group 1 success at the Royal meeting.
Lee, who was partnering the filly for trainer Karl Burke, said: ‘It is fantastic. I had five and a half months off as I broke my C1 (vertebra), but I feel I have come back stronger and better.
‘It helps riding good horses. It was very hard as it took me a long time to actually get back fit. It is great to be back. On big days like this, I am glad for the team back at home that do all the hard work.’
Bloom, who was ranked as the 199th richest person in Britain by this year’s Sunday Times Rich List with a personal fortune of £779 million and with assets which also include Scottish side Hearts, was thrilled by the last-gasp success of his superstar filly, but was unwilling to draw comparisons with a late Brighton winner.
‘I don’t like to compare (a 95th minute winner with a Royal Ascot win) as they’re all amazing and I’m very fortunate to be in the position that my football team can get last minute winners, and I can enjoy Royal Ascot winners, especially Group Ones!’ he grinned.
Clifford Lee won aboard hot favourite Venetian Sun on an emotional day at Ascot
‘You can spend a lot of money on horses, and they can flop and you can get cheaper ones, and they can become Group 1 champions, like this filly and she’s the best I’ve ever had.
‘She is very, very special and I’ve had some very good horses.’
There was no such luck later in the day for HM The King and HM The Queen and their Royal runner Warrant Holder who hit the front under William Buick in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes only to be worn down late on by Kiwi rider James McDonald who grasped his Opportunity with both hands, quite literally.
On-course layers Star Sports were also left reeling having laid £275,000 to win on Precise to win the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at 8/11, only for Ryan Moore to boot home the Irish 1000 Guineas winner to record a fifth winner of the week for himself and trainer Aidan O’Brien.
That soon became the joy of six courtesy of Causeway who gamely lifted the King Edward VII Stakes at the expense of Ancient Egypt for the formidable duo, much to the delight of the big-staking punter who also collected a further £300,000 courtesy of his wager at evens.
There was late drama in the closing Palace Of Holyroodhouse Stakes as a wholesale gamble was landed when the Wesley Ward-trained favourite Bacio routed his field only to face a stewards’ enquiry following an objection from the clerk of the scales.
Available at 14/1 overnight, the Wesley Ward-trained speedster jumped from the gates under Juan Hernandez and barely saw another rival as he scorched home by three and a half lengths to score at 3/1.
However, following the subsequent enquiry into the weight carried by Bacio, the stewards were then satisfied that Bacio had carried the correct weight and the placings were confirmed after all.
