RACING:MAYBE IS one of Aidan O'Brien's six runners in a field of 14 declared for the Investec Oaks at Epsom tomorrow. The daughter of Galileo bids to go two places better than in the 1,000 Guineas, when she was a beaten favourite behind her stablemate Homecoming Queen.
O’Brien is going to the Surrey track with all guns blazing as he seeks a fourth win in the fillies Classic. The Ballydoyle trainer is also represented by the unbeaten Kissed, Betterbetterbetter, Devotion, Twirl and Was. However, Kissed will only run if conditions are suitable.
O’Brien’s wife, Anne-Marie, tweeted: “We have declared all six fillies to run in the Oaks on Friday but Kissed will only run if there is an ease in the ground.”
Lingfield Oaks Trial heroine Vow will attempt to give Newmarket handler William Haggas back-to-back Oaks triumphs after Dancing Rain 12 months ago. Godolphin’s Kailani, trained by Mahmood Al Zarooni, is another filly defending a 100 per cent record.
John Gosden is looking to The Fugue to give him a first win in the race. She finished one place behind Maybe when fourth at Newmarket and has since boosted her Oaks prospects with an impressive victory in the Musidora Stakes at York.
Ralph Beckett, successful with Look Here in 2008, relies on Lingfield Oaks Trial runner-up Colima. Completing the line-up are Hughie Morrison’s pair of Coquet and Shirocco Star, the Mick Channon-trained Nayarra, and Toptempo from Mark Tompkins’ stable.
There were no withdrawals at the final declaration stage.
O’Brien has revealed riding plans for his six-strong team, with his son, Joseph, aboard the stable’s first string Maybe. Ryan Moore has been booked for Kissed, though she will only run if connections are happy with ground conditions. Pat Smullen teams up with Twirl, while Colm O’Donoghue and Seamie Heffernen are on Betterbetterbetter and Was respectively. Richard Hughes has been handed the mount on Devotion.
Hughes has yet to add a British Classic victory to his CV and is happy to get a mount for the champion Irish trainer on the daughter of Dylan Thomas, who was second to Yellow Rosebud over a mile at Leopardstown on her latest start.
“I’ve had rides for Aidan before and this is grand. I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper reports the going good, good to firm in places. He may water the track before the two-day meeting starts tomorrow if the track misses out on any showers.
He told At The Races: “I think it would ride as good fast ground, which for summer Classics we should be racing on. The last two nights we’ve had suggestions of thunderstorms which have missed us completely.
“The last prospect of any rain for us seems to be today with the possibility of showers coming in from the west. They are not expected to be particularly heavy, but we could just catch something. Then it looks like it will cool down and stay dry.”
Meanwhile, Johnny Murtagh will take to the skies tomorrow evening in order to continue his partnership with the Royal Ascot-bound New Pearl at Pontefract.
Murtagh is booked to ride leading Investec Oaks candidate Vow as well as Moon Pearl in Epsom’s final race, the Investec Asset Management Handicap at 5.25pm, and will have a couple of hours to make the Diamond Jubilee Youngsters Conditions Stakes in South Yorkshire.
Trainer David Brown prepared Frederick Engels to win the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot last year in the colours of Pearl Bloodstock and after that colt was sold to Hong Kong, Brown was rewarded with further support by owner Sheikh Fahad Al Thani. One of the replacements was the grey New Pearl, who Murtagh helped record an impressive debut victory over five furlongs at the Newmarket Guineas meeting.
