Fillies and mares take centre stage at Chelmsford City this Thursday, February 7, with the running of the £20,000 Bet totetrifecta At totesport.com Fillies' Conditions Race at 6.55pm. (Pattie pictured winning at Chepstow Racecourse)
The mile Polytrack contest is a Fast-Track Qualifier, with the winner guaranteed a free start in the £150,000 Ladbrokes All-Weather Fillies & Mares Championships over seven furlongs at Lingfield Park on £1-million All-Weather Championships Finals Day, Good Friday, April 19.
Clon Coulis (David Barron/Jamie Spencer) is the headline act and shoulders a 3lb penalty after winning two Listed contests on turf last year - the Pipalong Stakes at Pontefract and the Valiant Stakes at Ascot, both over a mile in July.
The Yorkshire-trained five-year-old Vale Of York mare finished fifth on her only subsequent start behind Veracious in the G3 Atalanta Stakes at Sandown Park on September 1.
Clon Coulis's sole start on the All-Weather came at Chelmsford City in the Listed totepool Queen Charlotte Fillies' Stakes in June, when she ran on well to finish a close fourth behind Carolinae.
Pattie (Mick Channon/Callum Shepherd) has taken her form to a new level since finishing fourth in this race last year. She captured a mile turf handicap at Newmarket in October before coming third in a pair of Listed races, including on the All-Weather in the British Stallion Studs EBF Hyde Stakes at Kempton Park on November.
The five-year-old Sixties Icon mare was last seen out when a staying-on third behind Island Of Life in a seven-furlong Fast-Track Qualifier on Tapeta at Wolverhampton on January 2.
Jack Channon, assistant to his Berkshire-based father Mick, said: "Pattie finished well over seven furlongs at Wolverhampton.
"Her work since has been very good and we think stepping back up to a mile will be a help to her.
"She has run some very good races of late and hopefully she can go close again."
Scottish-trained runner Miss Bar Beach (Keith Dalgliesh/Callum Rodriguez) also has form at Listed level, as the four-year-old Choisir filly finished third on turf in a seven-furlong contest at Pontefract and a six-furlong event Carlisle during the summer.
The four runners are completed by four-year-old Westlake filly Lady Alavesa (Gay Kelleway/Josephine Gordon), who kept on to finish third on Tapeta in a Wolverhampton extended mile handicap on January 28.
Chelmsford City's seven-race programme starts at 5.10pm and ends at 8.25pm.
