Flight Of Fancy Oaks favourite

Flight Of Fancy heads 23 fillies in the £325,000 Vodafone Oaks at Epsom on June 8th following the first forfeit stage yesterday…

Flight Of Fancy heads 23 fillies in the £325,000 Vodafone Oaks at Epsom on June 8th following the first forfeit stage yesterday.

The daughter of Sadler's Wells is 3 to 1 favourite with Ladbrokes to give Queen Elizabeth her third success in the fillies' Classic following Carrozza in 1957 and Dunfermline in 1977.

Flight Of Fancy made an eyecatching seasonal debut in the Musidora Stakes at York last week when a strong-finishing fourth to Time Away.

The filly's trainer Sir Michael Stoute has also left in beaten Sagitta 1,000 Guineas favourite Karasta and Gay Heroine.

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There are four Irish-trained fillies still in the mile-and-a-half contest - three from Aidan O'Brien's stable, Imagine, Sequoyah and Snowflake plus Kevin Prendergast's Entente Cordiale.

All the leading fancies stood their ground, including the first three home in the Pretty Polly Stakes at Newmarket - Mot Juste, Tarfshi and Time Away.

Time Away, who went on to win the Musidora, is trained by John Dunlop. The Arundel trainer could also be represented by Silver Grey Lady, runner-up to Double Crossed in a controversial finish to the Arena Racing Oaks Trial.

She finished a neck behind her rival, and was awarded the race after an inquiry but the placings were put back to their original order following an appeal by Double Crossed's trainer Henry Cecil.

France, who last took this prize with Andre Fabre's Intrepidity in 1993, are still doubly-represented with the Carlos Laffon-Parias-trained Nadia and Robert Collet's Choc Ice. They were first and third in the Group One Prix Saint-Alary at Longchamp last Sunday.

Epsom clerk of the course Andrew Cooper was delighted with the entry, saying: "It is great to see such a high-quality and cosmopolitan collection of fillies going for the Vodafone Oaks."

Oaks: Candice, Choc Ice, Entente Cordiale, Flight of Fancy, Gay Heroine, Imagine, Inchiri, Karasta, Lipica, Mameha, Marani, Mot Juste, Nadia, Najah, Relish The Thought, Santa Isobel, Sequoyah, Silver Grey Lady, Snowflake, Sunstone, Tarfshi, Tempting Fate, Time Away (23).

Charles O'Brien saddled his first winner of the year when the front-running Chiming opened her account in the Glenvale Maiden at Tipperary yesterday. The Danehill filly, sporting the dark blue silks of Sue Magnier, kept on well inside the final quarter mile for Michael Kinane to beat Mayara by two lengths. Kinane was completing a double having earlier gained a narrow success aboard Haw Wing in the seven-furlong EBF Maiden.