Lady Dominatrix is set to take control

Coincidence gamblers hit on a happy sure thing when last year's Weatherbys Super Sprint was won by Superstar Leo. The flying filly was worthy of her epithet. She left all her peers standing - bar Europe's top-rated juvenile, Minardi, and even he was flattered by a more favourable draw when they met. She almost pulled off that rare modern feat of beating her elders in the Group One Prix de l'Abbaye on Arc day at Longchamp. Only Namid was able to spoil the party.

This year's field for Newbury's £135,000 event may lack the quality of 12 months ago with no Royal Ascot winner in the field. Both Superstar Leo and last year's sixth, Romantic Myth, had scored in the Norfolk and Queen Mary Stakes respectively. But Royal Meeting form may still hold the key this time around.

The 2001 Queen Mary is represented by fifth Good Girl, 12th Mizillablack and 17th Coffee Time, whereas the Norfolk offers its seventh and eighth, Time Royal and Woodsmoke. Of those who chased home Irony in the Windsor Castle, tenth Online Investor, 13th Partytime and 16th Anima Mundi re-oppose here and

Lady Dominatrix is the sole runner from the Coventry Stakes, in which she finished stone cold last.

That wouldn't usually be the best recommendation, but Lady Dominatrix has what's needed to win this if you flick a few pages further back in the formbook.

It was a bold move on the part of trainer Nerys Dutfield to tackle the colts in the Coventry. It didn't pay off, but things could have been a lot worse - Lady Dominatrix was lucky not to be brought down two furlongs from the start.

"George Duffield, her rider, told me he asked her to lengthen and I think she responded more than he expected because they went straight into the path of a weakening horse," said Dutfield, who specialises in speedy two-year-olds. Anima Mundi and Mizillablack also hail from her Devon yard.

Yet two outings prior to Royal Ascot, Lady Dominatrix forced subsequent Queen Mary heroine, Queen's Logic, to pull out all the stops on her debut over this course and distance. There was only threequarters of a length between them, while third-placed Partytime was ten lengths adrift. Dutfield believes Lady Dominatrix wasn't suited by Beverley next time out and she certainly had a poor draw, finishing only seventh behind Good Girl. The winner is improving fast and may prove best of the trio her handler, Tim Easterby, fields here - although consistent Princess Sofie shouldn't be written off after aiming too high in the Cherry Hinton.