Billie Be Quick

Two of her three career wins have come at Down Royal, from just five races there. That's a remarkable return — winning 2 from 5 at a single track is the kind of record that makes trainers put a circle around a course on the calendar. Jockey Keithen Kennedy described it plainly after one of those wins: he sat and waited for gaps to open, and when they did, Billie Be Quick powered straight through them. He said she simply loves it around there, and the numbers back him up entirely.

Trained by Mrs John Harrington at Moone in County Kildare — a yard that has sent out 53 winners already this season, so she is in serious hands — Billie Be Quick has had a slightly frustrating recent spell. Her most recent win came at Chepstow last August, and her last six runs have produced no wins and a string of mid-pack finishes, with an eighth place her best effort in that period. The form figures of 8-4-5-11-10 don't make for cheerful reading, but her trainer is not panicking. Speaking recently, Harrington pointed to a promising first run back this season at Bath, where Billie Be Quick finished well, as a sign that she has improved over the winter. The team is now eyeing races with a little more prestige during the summer months.

She raced just yesterday, so whatever comes next will come quickly. Shane Foley, who has partnered her most often — winning once together from eight races, a rate of 12% — will be hoping the Bath promise translates into something tangible. Billie Be Quick is the kind of horse that rarely flatters to deceive on paper, but at a track she loves, with the right run through a gap, she is capable of surprising people.