From Dreams to Reality: Opulence Thoroughbreds Celebrate First Group Winner
The second day of the York Ebor Festival, produced a race that will live long in the memory of everyone connected to Opulence Thoroughbreds. Our precocious two-year-old filly, Royal Fixation, stormed to victory in the prestigious Group 2 Sky Bet Lowther Stakes, not only confirming her place among the best juvenile fillies in Britain but also etching her name into history as Opulence Thoroughbreds’ first ever Group race winner.
The Lowther Stakes, a renowned six-furlong contest restricted to two-year-old fillies, has often proven a stepping stone to future Classic contenders. On this occasion, it became the stage for Royal Fixation to showcase her glowing talent. She broke smartly from the gates under William Buick and was settled just at the back of the pack for the majority of the early stages. The early fractions were sharp, but Buick kept her travelling comfortably in midfield, biding his time as the pace began to unfold in front of him.
As the race entered its decisive stages, the other joint favourite, America Queen, trained by Richard Hughes and ridden by Ryan Moore, loomed up powerfully on the outside, looking every inch the potential winner. But when Buick asked Royal Fixation to quicken inside the final furlong, the response was instant. Showing a blistering turn of foot, she swept past her rival and edged ahead, ultimately pulling away to score by a commanding one length. The win cemented their arrival on the Group race stage and confirmed Royal Fixation as one of the most exciting juvenile fillies in training.
The post-race reactions only added to the sense of occasion. William Buick was full of praise for the filly, remarking: “She’s very straightforward and did well in the circumstances at Newmarket, where we thought she could have won had we ridden her closer… My filly always had more to give, if anything. I think she’s a really good filly and is improving all the time.”
Trainer Ed Walker, who has handled Royal Fixation with patience and care, echoed those sentiments and looked ahead with optimism: “We’ve always thought a lot of her and she ran a huge race at Newmarket. It’s been a really long six weeks since then, we’ve let her down and had to build her back up and then you start wondering if you’ve got it right or is she too fresh. She’s so good, what is exciting is that she still looked a bit green off the bridle, when he first asked her she just wandered around a bit. She’ll get further, for sure, but she won’t go to the Fillies’ Mile—I think we’ll go to the Cheveley Park. She’s quick, she’s got loads of speed, she’s got a very fast female line and I think she’d be too keen over a mile at the moment.”
For us here at Opulence Thoroughbreds, Royal Fixation’s triumph is more than just a Group win it is a vindication of vision, strategy, and belief. To succeed at York’s Ebor Festival, one of the crown jewels of the flat racing calendar is what dreams are made of, and to celebrate with so many wonderful owners in attendance made the day even more special.
As Royal Fixation was led back into the winner’s enclosure to rapturous applause, there was an undeniable sense that this was only the beginning. With targets like the Cheveley Park Stakes now firmly on the horizon, our filly has the potential to carry us to even greater heights.
Timeform Review
Time: 1m 11.27s Closing Sectional: (3f): 35.65s (100%)
Royal Fixation, the pick on form, confirmed her Duchess of Cambridge promise from 6 weeks earlier, really taking the eye with how she passed almost the whole field under mainly hand riding in less than 1f; steadied at the start, patiently ridden, shaken up over 2f out, rapid progress out wide over 1f out, led approaching last ½f, ridden out; tactically versatile and open to further improvement, she's a leading contender for the Cheveley Park.
