What an afternoon for the team with Silverhill Freya landing the £10,000 Category One Bet365 Empress Stakes Final in terrific style. Breaking smartly from trap two, she grabbed the rails and once in front, it was all but over heading down the back straight. Freya is always so strong when on the bunny and was always going to be tough to catch once she struck the front.

We’ve been delighted with how she’s been running over the 500-metre trip at Towcester in recent weeks. She posted a brilliant 28.71 in the opening round and 29.05 in the semi-finals, both coming after a luckless run in the Select Stakes at Nottingham where early trouble saw her finish sixth.

Going into Sunday’s final, we knew the break would be vital with Kevin Hutton’s pacey youngster Baroness Velvet drawn inside in trap one and Mark Wallis’s Strike It Skye on her outside in trap three. At lid rise, Freya broke smartly, paced up strongly into the corner, and drove inside Yahoo Mareike from trap four who briefly challenged. Once she hit the front, there was only going to be one winner. She powered home, crossing the line two and a half lengths clear in 28.79.

Credit must go to Baroness Velvet, who ran a superb race for one so young. Despite a steady break, the February 2024 daughter of Glengar Bale showed raw pace and real promise down the back straight to challenge. She’s definitely one to watch in the coming weeks, and the Hutton team clearly have a serious prospect on their hands. Strike It Skye had no luck early but stayed on strongly to take third—another who looks destined for big things for the Wallis kennel.