Back in 2016 Queen Asia landed the BGBF British Bred Oaks at Doncaster. In second place was Fearsome Folly and in fourth was Acomb Ruby.

Fastest qualifier Acomb Lillian will be seeking revenge on her dam’s behalf from two of Asia’s daughters, Queen Franklin and Queen Dolly, with Folly represented by niece Fearsome Encore.

The Kevin Ferguson bred and trained Lillian found almost half a calculated second on first round form with a flawless trap to line front running performance. After trapping like her famous father Hiya Butt, the smallest finalist clocked the fastest sectional and a 29.63 winning time.

Queen Dolly was odds-on for the first semi but finished between a ‘Parker sandwich’ with Sean’s Russanda Reel, a daughter of two former kennel stars, Candlelight King and Droopys Gigi showing the sort of class and ability which saw mother win opens over 480, 500 and 660 metres at Sheffield. The local A1 winner equalled her best time over course and distance, 29.69, on going rated -10.

 

Kinsley based Ferguson is hoping Lillian can have a little more luck in running than her dam who also reached a second Doncaster Oaks final, plus two Queen Mother Cups, a Prestige and a British Bred Leger final.

He said: “She had a lot go wrong: toes, tendons, she did a shoulder before one of the Queen Mother finals which we had to nurse her through, but she was a very good bitch. I remember her beating a very good field at Sheffield one night (including Glenpaddan Ace and Shellam Delano) and she won one race at Harlow by 11 lengths.”

There were five pups born in the litter by Hiya Butt and all are open class.

Kevin said: “We have about three acres here and I only have the occasional litter, but we’ve had a bit of success. Out of the eight litters we’ve produced, there have been open race winners in every one.

“If I’m honest, I was a bit stunned at how well Lillian ran. But I trialled her at Kinsley about three weeks ago and the racing office told me that on going allowance she was inside the sprint track record. But they are a very good litter, there probably aren’t more than two lengths between any of them. Certainly when they were schooling, Jenny looked the best of the bitches.

“Of the dogs, Winston is probably the quickest. He ran second in the puppy final at Newcastle, but he is still a maiden so I plan to take him back there for that maiden British bred competition.”