Burke sets sail for Queen Mary glory at Ascot

Dramatised and Yahsat take on Love Reigns in five-furlong cracker.

Karl Burke hailed Dramatised as the fastest filly he has trained ahead of her tilt at the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot on Wednesday.

The daughter of Showcasing justified market confidence with a brilliant display on her racecourse debut at Newmarket in late April, since when connections have kept their powder dry for the Royal meeting.

Burke possesses a strong team of juvenile fillies this season, but there is little doubt Dramatised is top of the shop in his mind.

“She looks in great shape. If she lands in the paddock as she is now I’ll be very happy,” he said.

“We’ve had no issues at all. She had a little break after Newmarket, we were always going to go straight to Ascot and she’s had one away-day gallop, which went very well.”

Dramatised is a clear second-favourite to Wesley Ward’s Love Reigns, who showed blistering speed when winning by almost 10 lengths on her introduction at Keeneland.

Burke, though, is confident his star youngster will give the American raider a run for her money.

He added: “Her figures for her first run at Newmarket were pretty good and I’m adamant and convinced she’s come on from that.

“She’s as quick as I’ve trained anyway, so we’ll see.”

Karl Burke has high hopes for Dramatised
Karl Burke has high hopes for Dramatised (Dan Abraham/PA)

The Spigot Lodge handler has an interesting second string to his bow in the form Yahsat, who was narrowly beaten by stablemate Pillow Talk in the Marygate Stakes at York last month.

“Yahsat is worthy of her place there. She was only just beaten by Pillow Talk, who goes in the Norfolk,” said Burke.

“She’s a very speedy filly herself and she’s drawn very close to the American horse, so she’ll get a nice tow off that.

“I’m excited to see her run. If we didn’t have Dramatised in the race, I’d be very bullish about her getting a place at least anyway.”

Dramatised and Love Reigns are two of 12 unbeaten fillies declared for the five-furlong dash.

Should Love Reigns prevail, she would be a fifth win in the race for Ward.

Assessing her chances when speaking last week, Ward said: “She had about the best debut race I’ve ever had here at Keeneland – she won by almost 10 lengths and just scampered away from them.

“The guy that gives the figures here really didn’t want to give her a figure because he was sort of unsure thinking ‘how could she run that fast?’.

“She has had three or four pieces of work since then and all of them have been nice and steady and beautiful breezes. Every horse that kind of engaged her, she just exploded away from them.”

Katey Kontent (Clive Cox) and Maria Branwell (David O’Meara) are both two from two and prominent in the market, while All The Time (Ed and Simon Crisford) bids to build on the promise of her Nottingham bow in the colours of the Royal Ascot Racing Club.

Harry Herbert, racing manager for the owners, said: “It is exciting for the Royal Ascot Racing Club. We bought her at the breeze-up sales, for the club. It is a great thrill when those breeze-ups come off and you can run them two or three weeks later and win as impressively as she did.

“It was a very fast time and she had worked very well in a couple of pieces for Simon and Ed, and James (Doyle) were impressed with her. It was nice that he is available to ride as well, knowing the filly.

“It is a red-hot Queen Mary, but with the Royal Ascot Racing Club owning her, it would be madness not to have a go and see where we fit in the big picture.”

Philippe Coutinho part-owns Queen Mary contender Olivia Maralda
Philippe Coutinho part-owns Queen Mary contender Olivia Maralda (David Davies/PA)

No less than five runners are either owned or part-owned by Amo Racing with Olivia Maralda, Omniqueen, One More Olly, Miami Girl and Primrose Ridge all in contention for the powerful operation.

Olivia Maralda, trained in Ireland by Michael O’Callaghan, counts Brazilian footballer Philippe Coutinho, currently playing in the Premier League for Aston Villa, among his owners.

Amo’s racing manager, Emily Scott, said: “We go there with 25 per cent of the field, so it’s exciting.

“I think Rossa (Ryan) picking Miami Girl is a bit of an indication that he holds her in high regard and I think although Olivia Maralda hasn’t won, she’s bumped into a couple of very smart fillies and she could also run a big race.

“All of them deserve to be there. They all bring nice form there and I don’t think you can discount any of them, to be honest.”

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