Freya fastest again in Empress Stales semis

Freya sparkles at Towcester again

Silverhill Freya produced another demolition job in the semi-finals of the bet365 Empress Stakes at Towcester on Sunday afternoon.

Those who backed her at 2/9 had some worrying moments early doors as she didn’t have much room on the run to the corner, but her early speed kicked in and she made it round in front.

There was only ever going to be one winner from there and Graham Holland’s favourite raced clear down the back straight before come home five lengths ahead of Chakra in a standard-setting 29.25.

Strike It Skye (2/1) produced a brilliant run from off the pace to land the opening semi in thrilling fashion.

Yahoo Mareike stole a march on her rivals and Strike It Skye was left with a mountain to climb after crowding round the opening two bends.

However, the Mark Wallis-trained bitch began to motor from halfway and, despite having to switch to the outside off the last bend, she flew home to deny the pacesetter by a head in 29.30.

Odds-on favourite Bockos Sapphire ran well for third after missing the break but she failed to qualify.

Baroness Velvet made first run count when building on her heat success with another victory in the second semi-final.

Kevin Hutton’s youngster wasn’t the best away but showed tremendous early pace to turn in front and opened up a nice lead down the far side.

Ballymac Kinga (6/4fav) chased hard but the 13/8 winner was always doing enough and she crossed the line a length and a quarter clear in 29.44.