A small eight-horse field of fillies and mares will take to the Hobart track on Friday evening for the Bow Mistress Trophy 2017 and the bookmakers are having a hard time separating the top three in betting for the Group 3 sprint.

Due to run as Hobart Race 7 at 6:05pm (AEDT) one event after this summer’s Tasmanian Derby is run and won, the $125,000 Group 3 Magic Millions Bow Mistress Trophy (1200m) continues the black-type action.

The highest three rated mares in the field are also the dominant trio in Bow Mistress Trophy betting at Ladbrokes.com.au with nothing separating the top contenders.

Narrow early favourite is the Darren Weir-trained Lyuba ($2.70) who comes off a super-consistent string of runs at home in Melbourne.

The four-year-old daughter of Turffontein has run first or second in her four latest runs and was last seen finishing runner-up over 1100m at Caulfield with 57kg on January 7.

A winner of five of her nine career starts overall, Lyuba drops a half-kilo in the weight-for-age Bow Mistress Trophy and has Brad Rawiller aboard from barrier five as she chases her second win from as many starts over 1200m.

Fellow mainland raiders I Love It ($2.80) and Ocean Embers ($2.90) are the next best in betting drawn in barriers two and six respectively.

Caulfield’s John Salanitri prepares Artie Schiller six-year-old Ocean Embers who is first-up on Friday night and looking to add to a solid record when resuming (8-3-1-1).

Her latest run was a seventh to subsequent Winterbottom Stakes runner-up Sheidel in a Group 3 over 1100m at Flemington on Derby Day back in October when beaten a touch over two lengths in a massive effort as a $71 roughie in betting.

I Love It is no stranger to Tasmanian racing having won the 2015 Bow Mistress Trophy in the same year she finished a length away third behind Miracles Of Life in the Group 1 Robert Sanger Stakes (1200m) in Adelaide.

She also lined up in the Bow Mistress last Tasmanian Summer Racing Carnival for a devastatingly close second behind Nautical before winning the Group 3 Vamos Stakes (1400m) at Launceston next time out.

Ocean Embers meanwhile is a four-year-old Beneteau mare who has won four from 10 to date.

She hasn’t been first past the post since the Group 3 Cockram Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield last August, after which she finished fourth to Star Turn in the Group 2 Schillaci Stakes (1100m).

First-up at Eagle Farm in Brisbane she ran eighth beaten only two lengths from barrier 14 of 15 over 1200m on New Year’s Eve and should be improving second-up on Friday.

The value in Bow Mistress Trophy betting however could land outside of the visitors with local hope Trot On Candy at $17 to post her third win on the trot.

Troy Baker rides the in-form four-year-old whose two latest runs have produced back-to-back Hobart wins over the 1100m.

She is now four-from-nine at the track, won her latest on January 22 by over two lengths and has plenty of form at the 1200m (8-3-2-0) making her a tough sprinter to get past at her preferred course.

Check out the full Bow Mistress Trophy 2017 field, barriers, jockeys and latest Fixed Win odds below with markets provided by Ladbrokes.com.au – home of Odds Boost (T&Cs apply).

2017 Bow Mistress Trophy Field, Barriers & Odds