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William Haggas and Cieren Fallon celebrated a rare Listed double for owner Anthony Oppenheimer at Lingfield on Tuesday, with Queen Aminatu landing back-to-back renewals of the Fleur De Lys Stakes and Safety Catch achieving a first Listed victory in the River Eden EBF Fillies’ Stakes.
Queen Aminatu appeared to have a lot to do with two furlongs to run in the Fleur De Lys but produced a late turn of foot to take the contest by a short head from Potapova.
In an interview with Sky Sports Racing, Cieren Fallon said: "It was a bit like Newcastle and when she won this race last year. She is a bit slowly away and takes a while to warm up.
"They went nice enough early and then they obviously steadied it up. We got into a lovely rhythm and then it was just about picking the right gaps.
"I was very lucky it opened up and she's got a serious turn of foot, I'm just very lucky to ride her in the nice races.
"She's been very good to me, and this was a great training performance to get her back. I was very hopeful coming here, I thought she was the best filly in the race."
It was arguably a tougher task for Fallon in the River Eden EBF Fillies' Stakes, forced to take a wide path around the field aboard the inexperienced Safety Catch. She was carried right when attempting to make headway with three furlongs to run but hit the front in the final stages and held on to score by a head.
"I'm very lucky, the filly got me out of trouble, it wasn't the finest of rides," Fallon admitted.
"She took me wide and deep but down the back straight I was able to tuck in. She was obviously the best horse in the race, she's progressive.
"I've committed early enough because all she does is gallop, she was tough to the line, I was worried for half a second when David [Egan, second on Divine Jewel] was coming but she stuck her neck out for me.
"She's a jockey's dream, she's got gate speed, she's got natural speed. You can ask her for a bit of speed early on and then you can switch off, you can ask her for a bit more and she'll come alive again."
