Queen Mary prospect Formidable bids to live up to her name

Langleys Solicitors British EBF Marygate Fillies' Stakes | 5f | Listed | ITV4/RUK

Tom Dascombe and Richard Kingscote teamed up to take this Listed contest with 20-1 outsider Ceiling Kitty in 2012 and the pair are hoping to repeat the feat with Formidable Kitt, who showed blistering speed to make a winning debut at Newmarket. The pity for punters is that you certainly won't be getting 20-1 about her.

Rumours were rife Formidable Kitt was above-average before her Newmarket appearance, and those whispers proved on the money as she broke smartly, made all and displayed a really good attitude in the closing stages. Another victory would almost certainly book her ticket to the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot.

Mark Johnston sent out Delizia to win this in 2015 and is double-handed courtesy of Catterick maiden winner Izzy Bizu and Faithful Promise, who took three attempts to open her account but did so emphatically at Musselburgh.

Throw into the mix Nottingham maiden winner Main Desire and Maggies Angel, who did the business in a Ripon maiden, and you have got yourself a very tasty dish indeed.

Nine is the magic number

Four of the last nine winners of this have come out of stall nine. Main Desire is drawn there this year.

What they say

Rod Millman, trainer of Daddies Girl

She's come out of her Salisbury win in great form and I'm very happy with her. It's a very competitive race but she's a very tough filly who should be fine on the ground. She's crying out for six furlongs already so the ground might make it into more of a stamina test.

Tom Dascombe, trainer of Formidable Kitt

We were delighted with her at Newmarket and we hope she's a Queen Mary type. She has a great attitude and is a filly I like a lot. We want to run but soft ground is certainly not ideal so we'll have to wait and see.

Charlie Johnston, assistant to Mark Johnston, trainer of Faithful Promise and Izzy Bizu

Faithful Promise was a filly we really liked early on and she was one of our first juvenile runners. She took a big step forward last time and will need to take another step forward here. She has a lot of speed, though, and the ground will probably not be ideal. Izzy Bizu did well to win at Catterick as she was baulked at the start. She did all her best work late there and was well on top at the line. Hopefully there's more to come.

Eoghan O'Neill, trainer of Kentish Waltz

She's been working well since February and we expected her to run well first time. You never quite know what is in those unraced maidens but I'd have been disappointed if she hadn't been in the shake-up. Sure enough she won, although she was just a little bit green in the middle of the race, but once she got organised she won well. Her preparation has been grand and this is the next step to see where we are with her.

Michael Bell, trainer of Main Desire

She's done nothing but please since she's arrived and we have a lot of faith in her. We were obviously pleased with what she did at Nottingham in a track-record time and we still haven't had her off the bridle at home. We really want to run and the intention is to but if there was another deluge before racing we might have to rethink.

David JenningsDeputy Ireland editor

Published on 18 May 2017inPreviews

Last updated 10:53, 19 May 2017

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