Tag: Betfred Oaks

Opera Singer Heads Oaks Entries; Stellar Selection for Coronation Cup

Fifty-eight entries for the Betfred Oaks on May 31 have been revealed, led by last season's champion juvenile filly Opera Singer (Justify). The G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner remains the market leader despite the recent announcement by her trainer Aidan O'Brien that she may miss the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket following a minor setback in training. 

Her stable-mate Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}) is also among the 13 fillies to have been entered from Ballydoyle. Irish trainers Noel Meade, Jim Bolger and Dermot Weld have one entry apiece while Paddy Twomey has entered Purple Lily (Ire) (Calyx {GB}) and One Look (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}).

Ralph Beckett has the strongest representation among the British-based trainers with nine fillies engaged at this stage. These include the maiden winner Treasure (GB) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), owned by the King and Queen. 

Britain's champion training partnership of John and Thady Gosden, which won last year's Oaks with Lady Bamford's Soul Sister (Ire), has five entries, including Cheveley Park Stud's Regal Jubilee (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who is currently third-favourite for the fillies' Classic. 

Making Dreams (GB) (Make Believe {GB}), the winner of Monday's G3 Prix Penelope at Saint-Cloud, is one of four entries for Karl Burke. She races in the colours of Nick Bradley Racing, the syndicate which fielded the 2021 Oaks runner-up Mystery Angel (Ire).

The sole French entry for the race is the Group 3-placed Dare To Dream (Fr) (Camelot {GB}), who is trained by Chantilly-based Irishman Gavin Hernon. 

Friday's card for the Betfred Derby meeting includes the G1 Coronation Cup, which could see a rematch between the first two home in last year's Derby, Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett {GB}).

The reigning Coronation Cup champion Emily Upjohn (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) is also among the 23 entries, which include the St Leger winner Continuous (Ire) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and German Horse of the Year Fantastic Moon (Ger) (Sea The Moon {Ger}).

 

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Frankie’s Fillies Light Up Ladies’ Day

EPSOM DOWNS, UK–It was a chill wind, rather than an ill wind, that blew across the Downs as the early birds arrived at Epsom. The drive to Surrey had been peppered by racing popping up on the Radio 4 news, and that's rarely a good sign. Animal Rising may be chaotic in its reasoning but, with its threats of disruption, the protest group has done a good job of grabbing attention in the run-up to the Derby. Sure enough, there it was again, on repeat on the hourly bulletins.

The racecourse always comes as a bit of a surprise as suburbia gives way to the wide open space which, for almost 250 years, has held tightly its most prized asset. Those cambered bends of one of the world's most extraordinary racecourses are accompanied by a shining white grandstand resembling a cruise liner marooned on the turf. It's a startling sight on any day and by Friday morning it was encased by barricades: Fortress Epsom standing ready to repel those whose sole intent wasn't simply to enjoy a bloody good day at the races.

On cue, the sun emerged mid-morning to aid tens of thousands of racegoers in that pursuit. Eve Johnson Houghton and Anthony Bromley know how to unearth a value buy at the yearling sales and, after Chipotle (GB) and Streets Of Gold (Ire), the stable has another precocious youngster to take them and the members of the Woodway 20 syndicate to more big days out. Bobsleigh (Ire) (Elzaaam {Aus}) shot down the straight to win the Woodcote like he was on the Cresta Run. After tackling the weirdness of Brighton then Epsom with aplomb, Ascot will seem like a doddle.

This was Ladies' Day. In fact, it was Lady Bamford's day, and the only moment the smile slipped from the face of the diminutive owner-breeder of the Oaks winner Soul Sister (GB) was when Frankie Dettori tried to lift her off her feet and spin her round in the winner's circle. 

For Lady Bamford it was a second Oaks success after Sariska (GB), for Dettori a seventh, the first of which came almost 30 years ago with Balanchine. Will he retire to bed tonight thinking 'what the hell was I doing announcing my retirement?' He won't be the only one questioning that decision, if indeed he is. 

The indefatigable jockey had already given one masterclass aboard Emily Upjohn (GB) to win the G1 Dahlbury Coronation Cup, setting up the first half of a memorable Group 1 double for John and Thady Gosden. The runners-up of last year's Derby and Oaks went toe to toe down the hill for home, with the only certainty being that one of them would once again have to settle for second. Westover (GB) gave way, perhaps not graciously, to the powerhouse that is Emily Upjohn, now resplendent in the huge frame that once made her a backward-looking yearling deemed worth a bid that was half the price of her illustrious sire's covering fee. She's showing them now. 

Last summer, an early morning July Course gallop for Emily Upjohn, and the sudden appearance of Dettori to ride her, was the first sign of a rapprochement between the jockey and John Gosden, a temporary parting of ways having ensued in the wake of a few irksome results at Royal Ascot. Whether it was that public chiding or merely his wish to go out on top that first prompted Dettori's thoughts of retirement, he will certainly be granted the latter. He already has two British Classics under his belt this season and, as his twin triumphs on those glorious fillies at Epsom show, he remains very much in his pomp as a rider.

He is still the public's darling, too, and boy does racing need a figure of such recognisable vibrance right now.  “I'll have a few quid on Frankie,” said the lady on the paddock rail to her friend before the Coronation Cup. She wasn't the only one with thoughts of backing Frankie blind. By late afternoon on Friday, the plunge on Dettori's Gosden-trained Derby runner Arrest (Ire) had gathered pace to push him to the head of the market past Auguste Rodin (Ire). A Frankie-Frankel Oaks-Derby double would certainly help to propel racing to the front pages for all the right reasons, providing that's the only prominent Arrest at Epsom on Saturday. 

There's a saying that goes 'show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser'. But when you own a share in a stallion who has contributed in a homebred filly running third in the Oaks, then you are entitled to feel pretty cock-a-hoop, as Steven Smith and Andy Lloyd of Hunscote Stud did by late afternoon. Their battler of a filly, Caernarfon (GB), had already belied her odds to run fourth in the 1,000 Guineas and now here she was again, challenging the favourite Savethelastdance (Ire) for second on the line in the biggest fillies' Classic of them all.

“Her sister was bulletproof, and she's bulletproof,” said Smith of Caernarfon and her Group 3-winning sibling Dan's Dream (GB), both daughters of Cityscape (GB).

“She's small, she's agile, she doesn't appear to need much work. She just didn't quite get the trip,” he added, before turning to the subject of a potential run in the marginally shorter Prix de Diane.

“A physical specimen she is not but, like all Cityscapes, she has a good mind and she tries. And if you have those two things in a racehorse you have a chance.”

A major share-holder in Cityscape, a former resident of Overbury Stud who is currently in Argentina, Smith is already musing the return of the Juddmonte-bred son of Selkirk.

“We found out today that she is a 10-furlong horse and we can crack on,” he said. “She goes on soft as well, so there are plenty of options. She floats. I have a video of her galloping and I draw a line and look at her eye and her eye doesn't move. Whatever is happening down below is very smooth and economical. She's like Seb Coe. Why did he win? Because of his action. She has an amazing action.”

The beaming owner-breeder then brought the conversation to a close with, “Right, I'm off to get hammered.” And with the uplifting thought that last year's Oaks third Nashwa (GB) went on to win the Prix de Diane, he has no need to drown any sorrows.

The post Frankie’s Fillies Light Up Ladies’ Day appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The Oaks: Where Did They Come From?

Looks can be deceiving, but it is hard to argue with Savethelastdance's 22-length winning margin in the Listed Cheshire Oaks. The Coolmore filly faces 10 rivals in Friday's G1 Betfred Oaks, among them G3 Musidora S. heroine Soul Sister for Lady Bamford.

BE HAPPY (IRE), Camelot (GB) – Frequential (GB) (Dansili {GB})
Owner: M Tabor, D Smith, Mrs J Magnier & Westerberg
Breeder: Lynch Bages Ltd & Longfield Stud
Trainer: Aidan O'Brien

A 340,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 purchase, she is a sister to the Group 3-placed Hector De Maris (Ire) and hails from the family of Classic winners Galileo (Ire), Sea the Stars (Ire) and King's Best, her fourth dam being Allegretta (GB). Runner-up to the supplemented Eternal Hope in the Lingfield Derby Trial and not without a chance.

BRIGHT DIAMOND (IRE), El Kabeir – Starlite Sienna (Ire) (Elusive Pimpernel)
TDN Rising Star.
Owner: Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum
Breeder: T Molan
Trainer: Karl Burke

A graduate of the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale for €52,000, she is out of a half-sister to Group 3 winner Realtra (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and was a highly impressive maiden winner on debut last year before finishing third in the G1 Fillies' Mile. Down the field in fifth but not beaten far in the Lingfield Oaks Trial on her only start this year.

CAERNARFON (GB), Cityscape (GB) – Royal Ffanci (GB) (Royal Applause {GB})
Owner: Hunscote Stud, P Humphreys & J Sweeney
Breeder: Hunscote Stud
Trainer: Jack Channon

A full-sister to the G3 Fred Darling winner Dan's Dream (GB) out of an unraced mare, she won the Listed Montrose Fillies' S. over a mile on the last of her seven starts at two, and came out strongly on debut this season to take fourth in the 1,000 Guineas. What she lacks in size she makes up for in toughness. The Oaks trip may just be a stretch.

ETERNAL HOPE (IRE), Teofilo (Ire) – Voice Of Truth (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire})
Owner/Breeder: Godolphin
Trainer: Charlie Appleby

The second foal of a half-sister to Group 1 winner and sire Rio De La Plata (Arg), and all three of her runs have come this year. She won on her second start at Chelmsford in February then took to the turf with aplomb to win the Lingfield Oaks Trial, thereby demanding to be supplemented for this Classic test. Big chance. 

HEARTACHE TONIGHT (FR), Recorder (GB) – Salvation (GB) (Montjeu {Ire})
Owner: Chris Wright and Andy MacDonald
Breeder: Sylvain Vidal
Trainer David Menuisier

A first British Classic runner for her trainer and for her French-based sire, she is a half-sister to the dual Group 1 winner Wonderful Tonight (Fr) and bred on very similar lines to the 2019 Oaks winner Anapurna (GB) (Frankel {GB}). One for the placepot.

MAMAN JOON (IRE), Sea the Stars (Ire) – Dorcas Lane (GB) (Norse Dancer {Ire})
Owner: Amo Racing Ltd
Breeder: Barnane Stud Ltd
Trainer: Richard Hannon

A half-sister to the Royal Ascot winners Candleford (Ire) and Atty Persse (Ire), she was bought for 400,000gns at Tattersalls October Book 1. She has raced just once to date when second, more than nine lengths adrift of Gather Ye Rosebuds (Ire), in a 10-furlong Newbury maiden in April. Stamina won't be a problem but this is a dive into the deep end for an inexperienced filly.

RED RIDING HOOD (IRE), Justify – Ballydoyle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})
Owners: D Smith, Mrs J Magnier, M Tabor, Westerberg
Breeder: Coolmore
Trainer: Aidan O'Brien

From a deep Coolmore family and one Aidan O'Brien knows well, as he sent out her dam Ballydoyle to win the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac and finish second in the 1,000 Guineas. Dam is a sister to Misty For Me (Ire), a four-time Group 1 winner and the dam of US Navy Flag, as well as Twirl (Ire) and April Showers (Ire). It's a mouthwatering pedigree but she appears to be the Ballydoyle third string and improvement is required.

RUNNING LION (GB), Roaring Lion – Bella Nouf (GB) (Dansili {GB})
Owner: D P Howden
Breeder: The Bella Nouf Partnership
Trainers: John and Thady Gosden

A half-sister to Group 3 winner Majestic Glory (GB) (Frankel {GB}), her dam is a dual-winning half-sister to three black-type performers. Ultra-impressive winner at Newmarket back in May and forms part of a strong Gosden hand in the race. She is one of two Classic runners at Epsom from the sole crop of Roaring Lion, along with Dubai Mile (Ire) in the Derby.

 

SAVETHELASTDANCE (IRE), Galileo (Ire) – Daddy's Lil Darling (Scat Daddy)
Owners: Mrs John Magnier/Michael Tabor/Derrick Smith/Westerberg
Breeder: Daddys Lil Darling Syndicate
Trainer: Aidan O'Brien

The family has unfinished business in this race given the dam Daddys Lil Darling bolted to the start and was withdrawn from the 2017 Oaks after getting loose. The mare was a top performer in America, won at the highest level, and Savethelastdance appears to have inherited all of her ability and more judging by a breathtaking 22-length win in the Cheshire Oaks. Deserving favourite.

 

SEA OF ROSES (GB), Sea The Moon (Ger) – Plume Rose (GB) (Marchand De Sable)
Owner: Weldspec Glasgow Limited
Breeder: Overbury Stallions Ltd
Trainer: Andrew Balding

Bought by Grangemore Stud for 115,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in 2020. Reoffered at Book 1 and sold for 170,000gns to Andrew Balding. A half-sister to five winners, including the classy Desert Icon (Fr) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Gardol City (Fr) (Elusive City). Lots to find on form and ratings.

SOUL SISTER (IRE), Frankel (GB) – Dream Peace (Ire) (Dansili {GB})
Owner/breeder: Lady Bamford
Trainers: John & Thady Gosden

Lady Bamford's homebred is a sister to the Australian performer Herman Hesse (GB) and Dreamflight (GB), and a half-sister to Questionaire (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). Traces back to Kilfrish Stud's successful matriarch Arctique Royale (GB). Ticks a lot of boxes on paper, couldn't have been more impressive in winning the G3 Musidora S., and provides the final ride in the Oaks for Frankie Dettori.

 

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