The Platinum Queen in flying form for Doncaster

Nunthorpe runner-up going for Group Two honours.

The Platinum Queen is expected to prove “a tough nut to crack” in the rescheduled Cazoo Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster.

Richard Fahey’s charge was so impressive in winning a conditions race at Glorious Goodwood that it prompted Middleham Park Racing to stump the GBP 40,000 supplementary fee to add her to the Nunthorpe field at York.

Taking on the boys and her elders, albeit receiving a hefty weight allowance, The Platinum Queen justified the bold call by beating all bar Highfield Princess in the five-furlong Group One.

She drops back to Group Two level and into her own age group on Town Moor and a reproduction of her Nunthorpe effort will undoubtedly make her difficult to beat on Sunday.

“There was no shame whatsoever in being beaten by what is probably the best sprinter in Europe at the moment in Highfield Princess,” said Middleham Park’s Tom Palin.

“We put our money where our mouth was, we rolled the dice, it was sporting of the owners to give it a go and we very nearly came up with two sixes – we probably came up with 11!

“It confirmed what we thought about her – she’s an asset going into these high-quality races.

“It looks like we’ve had all the rain we’re going to have now and it’s drying out, there’s no evidence that she doesn’t go on soft but with the speed she possesses you just think that with a lot of cut in the ground you might not see her at the peak of her ability.

“We take on Trillium, who we’ve sort of taken on indirectly. We haven’t met her but she held the track record for about half an hour at Goodwood before we went and broke it, she looks like she sets a fair standard again.

“If she (The Platinum Queen) can replicate her Nunthorpe run she should be a tough nut to crack, but that’s not to say she’s a certainty.”

The light blue Middleham Park silks are also carried in the Group Two affair by the Keith Dalgleish-trained Prince Of Pillo, unbeaten in two races after landing the Ripon Hornblower Conditions Stakes last time out.

“I wouldn’t rule out the likes of Prince Of Pillo as well, he’s unbeaten in two runs and he won the Hornblower well,” said Palin

“If it’s softer ground then I think that could see him run very well also – I think it’s quite a deep race.”

Michael O’Callaghan sends the battle-hardened Crispy Cat from Ireland, as well as Harry Time, with Richard Hannon’s Trillium and Karl Burke’s Wolverhampton winner Lady Hamana two other hopes for the home team.

Charlie Hills runs Garrus in the Park Stakes
Charlie Hills runs Garrus in the Park Stakes (Mike Egerton/PA)

Group Two honours are also up for grabs in the Cazoo Park Stakes, another Group Two, for which Ralph Beckett’s Kinross is likely to be a hot favourite.

The seven-furlong specialist was last seen triumphing in the lucrative City of York Stakes and heads to Doncaster after missing last weekend’s Sprint Cup at Haydock due to the quick ground.

His rivals include the Charlie Hills-trained Garrus, who was last seen finishing a close third behind Highfield Princess in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.

Hills said: “We’re trying him back over seven after running a massive race in France last time. He seems to be in the form of his life and we’re really looking forward to it.

“He’s only run over seven once before. He’s a nice, laid-back horse so we’ll see.”

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