William Hill ambassador Nick Luck previews Oaks Day from Epsom and gives us his best bets for the Classic card.
Friday, Epsom
SAQQARA SANDS looks an interesting prospect for the Surrey Stakes, which opens up the Epsom card on Oaks Day (1.30). She made a bright start to her career last year, doing better than you’d expect at that stage of her career given her pedigree, which goes back to a classic family of the Wildensteins. She has the right running style for the seven furlong track here, and won’t mind if the rain comes.
HAVANA HURRICANE can give Maximized something to chew on in the Woodcote (1.25). Eve Johnson Houghton won this two years ago with Bobsleigh. He was an admirable horse, but this one might be a bit better judged on his really impressive debut at Goodwood, where he appeared to handle the downland track well. The form from that race has just cascaded ever since, and he arguably sets the standard.
GIAVELLOTTO is a rather underrated horse, but he’s a damn good one, and can surprise one or two in the Coronation Cup (2.40). He ran fine in Dubai – three places behind heavy favourite Calandagan – but he, too, was poorly positioned in a tempo-led affair. There are a few here who like to get on with things, which will suit, and given that neither of the front two in the betting are 100% straightforward, Giavellotto may capitalise. He’s put up a big number on easy ground, and is relatively unexposed at this trip.
BOTANICAL is evidently not the easiest to train, but he has easily enough ability to win off his current mark (3.15). I’m not sure he’s had the right combination of track/trip and ground this season, but he might just have it here, and I’m interested in the cheekpieces going on for the first time. All efforts on ground slower than good have been excellent, and he’s had a little break since his last run – his three best runs have come after more than five weeks off.
WEMIGHTTAKEDLONGWAY is a sporting selection in the Oaks. She’s established herself as a hardy and tough front runner with pretty abundant stamina in her brief career, and I suspect a pretty uncomplicated performance here. Victory somewhat relies on her improvement over 12 furlongs (likely) and key rivals performing below expectations. And for all Desert Flower keeps winning, she’s not a cast iron stayer on pedigree, and nor is her form very good. Ryan Moore opts for the handsome Minnie Hauk, who may be best suited to this test of the three Aidan trainees, but Giselle might be better in due course and Whirl probably has the best form of the trio.
JULIA AUGUSTA makes a bit of appeal at a price in the final TV race (4.35). Her win record isn’t great, but she is starting to look quite nicely handicapped and is generally ready to run well first time out. Her course and distance effort in last year’s Princess Elizabeth (rather unlucky not to fare even better) came on easy ground, and a reproduction of anything like that puts her right in the mix under a top rider.
