Headline act Invitational posted a decisive success in the £20,000 Ladbrokes Where The Nation Plays Fillies' Conditions Stakes (3.10pm, five runners) over seven furlongs at Wolverhampton this afternoon, Friday, January 3.
Trained by Roger Varian, four-year-old Invitational was the class act on paper having produced a power packed finish to land a seven-furlong Listed race at Fontainebleau, France, on her latest start in November.
Ridden today by Jack Mitchell, the 4/5 favourite followed the pace-setting Emily Goldfinch (Phil McEntee/Luke Morris) for much of the race and challenged that rival for the lead rounding the home turn.
Invitational hit the front at the top of the straight and, despite wandering around under pressure, never looked like surrendering the lead to the staying-on Rock On Baileys (Amy Murphy/Lewis Edmunds). A length and three quarters separated them at the line, with Second Collection two and three-quarter lengths further back in third.
The Tapeta contest was a Fast-Track Qualifier and Invitational is now guaranteed a free start in the £150,000 Ladbrokes All-Weather Fillies & Mares Championship over the same distance at Lingfield Park on Finals Day, Good Friday, April 10.
Varian captured Ladbrokes All-Weather Fillies & Mares Championship in 2017 with Realtra, who would progress to win a pair of G3 prizes in Ireland.
Mitchell said: "Invitational has done that nicely. She is not very big, but she has got loads of speed.
"For a filly that has run quite a few times, she was wandering around in the straight, but she has got the job done.
"This is Fast-Track Qualifier, which means she is in the big race now on Good Friday, and hopefully she will come on again from today."
