A STRAINED back will prevent The Queen from making her expected appearance at Newmarket this afternoon, but officials at Headquarters have stoically decided not to pull the plug on the card.

Queen absent, but Posh can spice up Newmarket

A STRAINED back will prevent The Queen from making her expected appearance at Newmarket this afternoon, but officials at Headquarters have stoically decided not to pull the plug on the card.
"The meeting will obviously go ahead as planned," said the track's managing director Lisa Hancock, although exactly why she should feel the need to say such a thing in the first place beggars belief.
All eight races on the card are named in honour of some of the most famous horses owned by Her Majesty, including Dunfermline who carried Willie Carson to victory in both the Oaks and St Leger in 1977, and was officially rated the best ever to wear the Royal colours.

Naturally enough, the mile- and-a-half contest is for fillies and while there are some very smart young ladies in the field, Wannabe Posh is a pretty confident banker to come out top.
Eddie Ahern's mount showed next to nothing in three runs over what were clearly inadequate trips as a juvenile, but as soon as she was stepped up in distance, she really came into her own, a first stab at today's 12 furlongs producing a first win at Windsor in June.
She hasn't been out of the first three in five outings since and had the rest of the field well beaten when chasing home Counterpunch last time out.

The Godolphin-owned winner has gone on to score again, stretching his unbeaten record to three out of three in the process, and as he's considered to be Listed class, Wannabe Posh did well to at least make a race of it. Assuming there are no Counterpunches lurking in this afternoon's line-up, she can land the nap.
On a day such as this, Lizzie Bathwick might be an appropriate Uttoxeter winner, while another to watch out for there is Herecomestanley, who looks to have got his jumping act together again after a spell when completing, far less winning, was beyond him.

At Wetherby, Through The Rye may find his way back into the winner's circle after a long absence, Grant Tuer's ten-year-old being last seen there when scoring at Carlisle early in 2005.
He returned to the Cumbrian track to finish third on his most recent start and that performance suggests he's set to add to the course-and-distance success he already holds there.