Rebel Assault romps home on debut under Hart

This wouldn't be a meeting at which you would expect to see a future star, but this may have been an exception as the home-bred filly Rebel Assault from the Mark Johnston stable was impressive when bolting up on her debut in the second division of the novice stakes.

Ridden by Jason Hart (replacing Franny Norton who was held up in traffic), the daughter of Excelebration made all the running and came right away in the final furlong to win by eight lengths – recording a fast time in the process – from Magic Applause, with the third a further five lengths away.

It was a performance that had 'Queen Mary' stamped all over it, but Johnston's wife Deirdre would not be drawn saying: "We will take her home and see how she comes out of the race before deciding anything, but ideally we would like to give her another run in a similar race."