Item advertised his Betfred Derby credentials by ending his unbeaten record in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes at York.
Arriving at Knavesmire having won both races as a youngster, the Andrew Balding-trained son of Frankel was sent off 11-2 for a season-long comeback in what is seen as the premier charge of next month’s Epsom Classic.
Ridden with great confidence by Colin Keane, the first Juddmonte stuck with long-time leader Action on the far side while most of the pack split on the train.
Asked to win his race inside the final furlong, Item sped a smart twenty-three lengths from Action, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Christmas Day winner, the 11-4 favourite, in third.
The victory revealed a second Classic for owners in as many days after Legacy Link’s Musidora won 24 hours earlier, while Item was beaten 5-1 in the Derby by Coral.
Juddmonte manager Barry Mahon said: “This was his third live start and his first this year.
“He does his job well at home, but he doesn’t stand out and we weren’t sure where we were, but that was a good performance.
“We won the test so obviously we can go to the Derby, Juddmonte bought and bred these horses to compete at the top of the best races and the Epsom Derby is still one of the best races in the world.
“Colin said he felt like a horse to go forward so we will talk to the owners, but hopefully they will want to go to Epsom.”
He added: “Some top quality horses have won trials at Chester and Lingfield, but this horse hasn’t done anything bad, three out of three and he keeps answering questions.
“We came here today not knowing where we were going, but I thought that was a great performance when he ran for the first time this year.”
See The Fire secure back-to-back Middleton Stakes victories
See The Fire was the first double winner of the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Middleton Fillies’ Stakes at York when she defended her title in style.
An impressive 12-length winner in this race last year, five-year-old Andrew Balding was sent off 5-6 favorite to bounce back after winning the Nottinghamshire Oaks last month.
It was Fallen Angel who took the lead at a slower pace, with Oisin Murphy struggling to hold on to defending champion Karl Burke’s ever-relegating Group One winner.
The race developed steadily into the home straight and while it briefly looked as though Charlie Appleby’s Diamond Rain was first inside Fallen Angel, See The Fire showed a smart turn of foot in the home straight to win by three quarters of a length.
Ger Lyons’ Red Letter filled the runners-up spot, with Diamond Rain’s effort finishing third.
The Coronation Cup at Epsom looks next for the five-year-old filly.
“It’s a great decision (to keep him in training) because he’s great to have in the yard and I think he’s the first to win the Middleton twice,” said Anna Lisa Balding, her husband’s representative.
“I saw that the first two furlongs were 14 seconds or something, but Oisin just went down on him and said he was a complete machine. He said he felt he was going to win all the way, so I was happy.
“Obviously he won the race very well last year and you never know if he’ll come back to do it again, but he’s been doing a good job at home.
“He’s not someone who is serious about training so I think it’s a credit to the team at Kingsclere.
“He’s still going into Epsom (Coronation Cup) and who knows what will happen, but it’s going to be a good season ahead.
“Usually it’s his (owner Jeff Smith’s) decision, he’s the one who decides where everything comes together and it’s a big one for him.”
Barry Mahon, racing manager for Red Letter owners Juddmonte, said of the runner-up’s performance: “This was a step forward, but as Colin (Keane) said it turned out to be a five-foot sprinter that wouldn’t have suited him.
“He’s a great kid and we’re happy about that. I think what’s next, but today was it and we’re going to look at the book.
“I’d say a mile or 10 furlongs is fine, at Ascot there’s the Duchess of Cambridge, but we’ve got Blue Bolt for that to see, it’s unlikely we’ll run both.”
Appleby has high hopes for Diamond Rain, who could have another trans-Atlantic tour among his ambitions.
“I’m very happy, obviously as you can see she’s a big girl so you can just run her than run her size,” said Appleby.
“His plan will start more towards the end of the summer onwards. We will probably work something out in America, but I would like to try to win European Group One with him and if anyone intends to do that then it will be our plan. But as we know, he has treated America well so we will be looking down on that route.”
Burke was “very pleased” with Fallen Angel on his return ahead of Royal Ascot.
“We wanted to race him before Ascot, but he will only run at Ascot if the ground is good or slow. We were keen to race him, it could be France next week or we come here to his door and as it happens, the weather is going our way,” he said.
“He ran well and I think, in retrospect, we could have gone faster and done more testing because he stayed well again in the last 100 yards. I still think he will stay one and two miles, but today he probably wasn’t ready enough, so that will set him up.
“He’ll go in a Group Two at Ascot (Duke of Cambridge Stakes) and all those mile fillies. I wouldn’t rule him out over a mile or two again at some point, depending on the ground, if those Group Ones over a mile come from a fast place then we don’t want to go. He’ll be entered in all those Group One races, but we’re very satisfied.”
