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Whilst the Derby is unquestionably the biggest and most prestigious Flat race run all season, the Derby Festival is now very much a two day affair, with the Oaks being staged on Friday and the Derby on Saturday. It is only fitting, therefore, for us to also feature “the Derby for fillies” on this website.
These are the winners of the Oak since 2000:
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Dancing Rain | Johnny Murtagh | W Haggas |
| 2010 | Snow Fairy | Ryan Moore | C Patino |
| 2009 | Sariska | Jamie Spencer | M L W Bell |
| 2008 | Look Here | Seb Sanders | R M Beckett |
| 2007 | Light Shift | Ted Durcan | Henry Cecil |
| 2006 | Alexandrova | Kieren Fallon | Aidan O'Brien |
| 2005 | Eswarah | Richard Hills | Michael Jarvis |
| 2004 | Ouija Board | Kieren Fallon | Ed Dunlop |
| 2003 | Casual Look | Martin Dwyer | Andrew Balding |
| 2002 | Kazzia | Frankie Dettori | Saeed bin Suroor |
| 2001 | Imagine | Michael Kinane | Aidan O'Brien |
| 2000 | Love Divine | Richard Quinn | Henry Cecil |
As with the Derby, a number of key trial races are staged in the run up to the Oaks. The most recent winners ran in the following trials (the recent form figures for the winners of certain of the trials are in brackets):
1,000 Guineas - Diminuendo (3rd, 1988), Salsabil (1st, 1990), Balanchine (2nd, 1994), Moonshell (3rd, 1995), Reams of Verse (6th, 1997), Shahtoush (2nd, 1998), Kazzia (1st, 2002), Casual Look (6th, 2003).
Pretty Polly Stakes (4051000) - Snow Bride (5th, 1989), Ouija Board (1st, 2004).
Cheshire Oaks (3061004) - Light Shift (1st, 2007).
Lingfield Oaks Trail (77902) - User Friendly (1st, 1992), Lady Carla (1st, 1996), Ramruma (1st, 1999), Look Here (2nd, 2008).
Musidora Stakes (8338516) - Diminuendo (1st, 1988), Snow Bride (1st, 1989), Reams of Verse (1st, 1997), Alexandrova (2nd, 2006), Sariska (1st, 2009).
Fillies' Trial Stakes (4014) - Eswarah (1st, 2005).
Prix Saint-Alary - Intrepidity (1st, 1993).
Lupe (now Height of Fashion) Stakes (062271) - Love Divine (1st, 2000), Snow Fairy (1st, 2010).
Irish 1,000 Guineas - Shahtoush (10th, 1998), Imagine (1st, 2001).
The Oaks is run over the same course and distance as the Derby (1 mile. 4 furlongs and 10 yards) and is also one of the five British Classics. It is only open to three year old fillies.
The race is named after the Earl of Derby's estate "The Oaks" in Carshalton, about 4 miles to the east of Epsom Downs.
At a dinner party held there in 1778, the Earl and his friends planned a sweepstake for three-year-old fillies over a distance of one and a half miles, and the race was first run the following year on May 14. It was won by the Earl's own horse Bridget and the race has been known as the Oaks ever since.
It is now the feature of Epsom’s Ladies Day and is run on the Friday before the Derby (5th June this year). It is the day when Ladies take centre stage both on and off the course.
The race’s most successful jockey is Frank Buckle with 9 wins.
The most successful trainer is Robert Robson with 12 wins.
The most successful owner is the 4th Duke of Grafton with 6 wins.
The fastest winning time of 2m 34.19s was set by Intrepidity in 1993.
Sun Princess, in 1983, won by the largest winning margin to date of 12 lengths.
Vespa (1833) and Jet Ski Lady (1991) at 50/1 are the longest price winners.
The shortest odds winner was Pretty Polly in 1904 who was successful at the prohibitive odds of 8/100.
The largest field was 26, in 1848.
The smallest was 4, in 1799 and 1904.
Here are the noteable trends for the last 10 winners:
8 out of 10 – successful over 7f or a mile as a two year old
8 out of 10 – pre race Racing Post rating of at least 107
8 out of 10 – recorded their best Racing Post rating last time out
7 out of 10 – won last time out
5 out of 10 – won or placed in a Group 1 contest
1 out of 10 – had not run as a two year old
2 out of 10 – had finished outside the first four on any career start
In comparison to some recent runnings this may have lacked a little strength in depth, yet any of the three market leaders would have been an entirely credible winner.
Rainbow View was one of the outstanding juvenile fillies of modern times, and had a plausible excuse for her sole defeat in the 1000 Guineas, while Midday and Sariska were impressive winners of two traditionally significant trials, the former trained by a master with fillies who had already saddled no fewer than eight Oaks winners. It was a roughish race, particularly the last 3f of it, but two of the three emerged to fight out a superb finish, and the third would have been much closer but for being squeezed for room when trying to mount her challenge.
It was debatable whether there was that much substance to SARISKA´s Musidora win, but that argument is purely academic now after she proved herself a most worthy Oaks winner with a performance that incorporated most of the qualities that one would hope to see in a top-class middle-distance filly, albeit in a race in which a fair bit of the trouble could be laid at her door.
Held up towards the rear, she was nicely poised in sixth straightening for home, and when Jamie Spencer asked her to close on front runner Oh Goodness Me she quickened smoothly to get there very quickly, although edging left down the camber in the process, doing Phillipina no favours and initiating an unfortunate chain reaction. In front over 2f out, she soon had a fight on her hands, with challenges to either side from Midday and High Heeled, and Rainbow View closing too when squeezed out, but she certainly put her head down and battled under pressure. Although Midday´s challenge persisted right to the line, Sariska was always just holding her. The pair eventually came clear and it was interesting to hear Jamie Spencer say afterwards that he went so early in order to run the finish out of Rainbow View, and to argue she might have been more impressive if he had waited longer.
Sariska returned with a nasty cut to a hind leg, but if she is not ready for the Irish Oaks - and remember Michael Bell has stressed what a lazy, laid-back filly she is and how much work she needs - then there is always the Yorkshire Oaks. After that she could drop back in distance for the Prix de l´Opera, or even be supplemented for the Arc if she was still on a roll.
Midday brought proven course form to the event, and she had been highly impressive in the Lingfield Oaks Trial. However, she beat a field of maiden winners there and had plenty to find strictly on the figures. Having sat a little handier than the winner on the inner it´s fair to say she didn´t enjoy an untroubled passage in the straight, for she was carried left in the incident initiated by the winner. However, she was in the clear to make her challenge in plenty of time, and hard though she tried, she simply could not quite get past an equally resolute rival. Clearly a top-class filly, it will be surprising if she is not placed to advantage in a Group 1 before the end of the season.
The surprise package here was High Heeled, who had beaten colts at Newbury before finding the fast ground against her when disappointing in the Musidora. Connections thought carefully before running her here, but there is seldom any jar at this meeting and she showed career-best form in third, looking a real threat when starting her effort from the rear on the outside and not out of it until inside the final furlong. Beaten only by two really good fillies here, she could now be supplemented for the Irish Oaks, where easier ground could show her in an even better light.
Connections of Rainbow View were adamant that firm ground was to blame when she was an odds-on fifth in the Guineas, and they had resolved immediately to aim her here rather than for the Irish 1000 Guineas. Calm again in the preliminaries, although brought into the paddock very late, she stood out on the form of her May Hill and Fillies´ Mile wins, but she had her stamina to prove and there remained a nagging worry that her Guineas defeat might in part have reflected the possibility that her contemporaries had simply caught up with her. In the event, however, those questions remained unanswered, for she was effectively put out of contention two out when the gap closed as she tried to nose between Sariska and High Heeled and she had to be snatched up. While she looked tired in the final furlong and there is a suspicion she would have been no better than fourth anyway, she would have been a good deal closer.
The rest were beaten 15-lengths and more, but with several of them badly hampered the form can not necessarily be taken at face value.
Patiently ridden The Miniver Rose, who ran ran respectably enough in the face of a tough task, was not among those hampered significantly, but Phillipina was. Bidding to become the first maiden to win the Oaks since Sun Princess in 1983, having failed by only a short head to catch Perfect Truth at Chester, she was being pushed along when Sariska edged left and hampered her starting up the straight. While she was not going well enough to suggest she would have been concerned in the finish, we saw at Chester how well she stays and this obviously was not her running.
Oh Goodness Me was racing on a sound surface for the first time and stepping up half a mile after her third to Again in the Irish 1000 Guineas. Her pedigree gave plenty of encouragement for the longer trip, but she was too keen early on, so much so that she was allowed to take over from Perfect Truth in front with around a mile to go. She was in trouble as soon as they straightened up and clearly did not run her race.
Tottie finished close behind Midday at Newmarket last year, but the margin was much wider at Lingfield and it was wider still here. Jim Crowley felt she did not stay, but she was clearly outclassed too.
The Italian Oaks second Wadaat was badly hampered towards the inner early in the straight, and she in turn interfered with the Cheshire Oaks winner Perfect Truth, who was out of contention in any case. Perfect Truth had been the first off the bridle and was struggling to hold her place coming down the hill, Johnny Murtagh reporting subsequently that she had not handled the track.