Hills delighted to hit the jackpot with Ancient Rome in Kentucky

Adam Morgan
September 4, 2023 2:57 pm

Former Fabre runner unbeaten in two starts since joining Lambourn trainer.

Ancient Rome could be set for further adventures overseas having scooped almost GBP 1million when victorious at Kentucky Downs on Saturday.

A four-time winner and fourth behind Modern Games in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains when trained in France by Andre Fabre, the son of War Front is two from two since switched to Charlie Hills for new owner Fitri Hay.

His class came to the fore when landing the Chesterfield Cup at the Qatar Goodwood Festival and he further advertised his qualities when making a successful raid on the Grade Three Mint Millions Stakes.

A big-money winner for @JPSPENCER1980 and @cbhills at Kentucky Downs as Ancient Rome landed the Mint Millions… pic.twitter.com/88WFEs4kzf
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) September 3, 2023

“It was fantastic and he’s done very little wrong since he has joined us,” said Hills.

“He’s got his good form back again and he had such good form as a two-and three-year-old. He seems to be enjoying himself and travelled over there great.

“It’s great when you have a horse who you know can travel well and it hopefully gives us a few nice races to go for in the future.”

Ancient Rome could now go in search of further riches Stateside, with international outings in both France and Bahrain also possibly on the agenda.

Ancient Rome surges clear to win at Goodwood (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Hills continued: “You have to give full credit to Fitri Hay and her team for finding that race over there and he’s Kentucky-bred so it made sense with that amount of prize-money for a Grade Three to go for it.

“We’ve had a brief chat this morning and we really need to get him home first, but there should be some nice races to go for.

“We could look at the Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland or we could go to France for the Prix Dollar and maybe the Bahrain Trophy a little bit later on.

“I’m sure he will get a bit further as well. I don’t see a mile and a quarter being a problem and he’s a really exciting horse to have in the yard, it’s great.”