SILVERHILL FREYA lines up in Sunday’s final of the bet365 Empress Stakes at Towcester as not just the fastest semi-final winner but bidding to become a first Irish-trained winner of the bitches-only event.

Graham Holland’s Cork Oaks winner produced a superb burst of all-round pace to streak clear of her rivals in the third semi-final at the weekend for a five-length victory over Chakra (Richie Taberner) in 29.25sec (-20) and now bids to add to her Co. Tipperary-based handler’s Towcester success which include two English Derby wins with Romeo Magico (2022) and Gaytime Nemo (2023).

Semi-final afternoon at the Northamptonshire racecourse had kicked off with victory for the Mark Wallis-trained Strike It Skye who just proved too strong for longtime leader Yahoo Mareike (Paul Young) in the first semi.

The Romford bitch had established a decent lead and, with favourite Bockos Sapphire (Graham Holland) missing the break and always playing catch up, had seemingly escaped the pack until the January 24 youngster came with a powerful run to score by head in 29.30sec (-20) for the 500m trip.

Baroness Velvet is even younger than Strike It Skye and Kevin Hutton’s February 24 daughter of Glengar Bale paced up to edge Ballymac Kinga (Belinda Green) into the turn and kept that rival at bay by one and a quarter lengths in 29.44sec.

Paul Johnson, Towcester’s interim racing manager, said: “It was a good afternoon’s racing with the Empress semis and Droopys Plunge here once again. As the Derby winner, we know how much he loves Towcester and he looked as good as ever for Patrick (Janssens) and the team.

“And maybe the Empress Stakes is closer than people might think. I’ve seen the bookmakers’ prices and Freya is very short, probably understandably so given Graham’s (Holland) great record at Towcester.

“She’s obviously got a great chance – her Irish form always looked top-notch – and I’m sure the Hollands will be hoping it’s a good weekend all round with the Irish Derby semis on Saturday.

“But you’d say Mark (Wallis) and Kevin (Hutton) have every chance with their young bitches. Both will come forward again as pups and Strike It Skye wasn’t that far off Silverhill Freya’s winning time – and did come from off the pace, too.

“Either way both will hopefully be back here for the bet365 Puppy Oaks as January and February 2024s – so that competition already looks a cracking one in the making.”