Dandalla overcomes pre-race hiccup to land the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes

There was both delight and relief at the finish of the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes after Dandalla maintained her unbeaten record in a scrambled finish to the Group 2.

Trainer Karl Burke, who received his winner while simultaneously selling a horse via the phone at the Tattersalls sales, revealed a hiccup in the days leading up to the race nearly led to him pulling the plug on running the Albany Stakes heroine.

“She’s tough and is a very high-quality filly,” Burke said. “She had a smallish issue ten days ago with a temperature, so it wasn’t plain sailing with her coming into this.