Following the passing of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III has taken over the ownership of her racehorses and he tasted success with his first stakes-winner in the royal silks overnight with progressive filly Perfect Alibi franking the form of Melbourne Cup contender Hoo Ya Mal.
Trained by William Haggas and ridden by Tom Marquand, Perfect Alibi opened up to win the Listed Beckford Stakes (1m6f) at Yarmouth by four and a half lengths taking her overall record to three wins and a second from seven starts.
She was a last start second to the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Melbourne Cup entry Hoo Ya Mal in the Group III Goodwood March Stakes.
“She’s really proving herself now and that was a very good performance,” Tom Marquand reported.
“She just struggled for a bit of toe coming into that top bend to hold her pitch, but she travelled really sweet down the back and to be honest, from the bottom of the straight it was always pretty evident she was going to be dominant as long as she had a bit of space to get rolling.
“She’s a darling of a filly and is really coming to the fore now. That last furlong was the strongest I’ve felt from her, so hopefully that’s a sign that things are still to come from her and she can keep improving physically.”
Perfect Alibi is the 53rd stakes-winner for French sire La Havre and is the first winner for her stakes-winning Duke of Marmalade dam Daphne, a grand-daughter of Group II winner Phantom Gold, who who was also bred and raced by The Queen.
This female family has produced a number of current Group winners including Reach for the Moon and Twilight Gleaming, while another member of the family is the Chris Waller trained stayer Chalk Stream (GB).
