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.
Our 2008 Oaks preview identified Moonstone and Look Here as "the best outsiders" - Look Here won at 33/1 and Moonstone was second at 25/1! In fact, our four selections all finished in the first five.
There has probably never been a better trainer of fillies in the history of the sport than Henry Cecil and he has a powerful hand again this year in the most prestigious race run on this shores for horses of the fairer sex.
Both of his entries, Aviate and Timepiece are near the top of the ante post markets and even the trainer himself seems to find it hard to split the two.
Aviate is unbeaten in three starts to date, including in the Musidora Stakes at York last time out. She had to overcome a troubled passage to score there, but her response under pressure was impressive, as she quickened up really well to retain her unbeaten record. The winning margin was narrow and the form looks ordinary (the winning time was 1.73sec slower than the opening older horse handicap and 1.32sec slower than the closing 3-y-o handicap), but she clearly has plenty of class. The concern is the slight lack of stamina in her pedigree.
Timepiece has been a bit of a talking horse for some time now and is yet to really reproduce on the track the ability that she has clearly been showing at home. She seemed to be progressing nicely last season, especially given that she was always going to improve with time, but she’s been a bit disappointing on her two starts this year, albeit in decent contests.
The first of those was in the Feilden at Newmarket, where she was fourth to Rumoush . Perhaps not surprisingly, she lacked the speed for that contest and with a bit more luck in running she would have been second as she was doing all of her best work at the death.
Timepiece’s second start was in the Oaks Trial at Lingfield, where she was sent of a hot favourite by punters. Defeat there was clearly disappointing and she didn’t find much when she hit the front. That may just have been a bit of greenness, but the race also failed to show whether she stays this trip or not. We do know that she wouldn’t mind a bit of give in the ground.
Rumoush , conqueror of Timepiece in the Feilden, was seventh in a messy 1,000 Guineas on her last start. She stayed on well that day to suggest that this trip should bring about further improvement and in fairness she was second of those drawn on the unfavourable far side at Newmarket. She still has some strengthening up to do and so whatever she achieves here she looks sure to improve throughout the season.
Two other horses to have form with Timepiece are Gertrude Bell and Ceilidh House. The former has twice finished behind Henry Cecil’s filly, but is at least guaranteed to stay. The latter may be of more interest, though, as she has only had two starts to date.
Ceilidh Househas a very similar profile to Look Here who won this race for her trainer, Ralph Beckett, in 2008. She did well to win so impressively on her debut considering how green she was and then showed herself ready for the step up in class when third in the Lingfield Oaks trial. She needed the run that day, and wasn’t given a hard ride, so is entitled to improve considerably.
One horse with even less experience is the one raced Sajjhaa. She won her maiden in some style at Sandown in May and could be anything. Interestingly, Hala Bek should have won the Derby for her trainer, Michael Jarvis, having run only once and Eswarah did win the Oaks for him on only her third start, so her inexperience shouldn’t be a worry .
The Irish challenge is headed by the maiden Remember When , who looks the main hope of the all conquering yard of Aiden O’Brien. She was an eye catching fourth in the Irish 1,000 Guineas last time out, doing all of her best work at the death. Being a three parts sister to Dylan Thomas the Oaks trip should suit.
Stablemate Awe Inspiring continues to improve with each step in trip and could be an interesting outsider, although she has a fair bit to find on form.
It would also be dangerous to write off Cabaret as she’d looked progressive last season and her disappointing effort in the Musidora can possibly be explained by the stable’s slow start to the season.
Akdarena is the other Irish challenger to consider. She routed a decent field on her last start and if that form can be believed she’d have to be a major player here. She is certainly bred for the job and her stable continues in great form. She’s definitely improved for encountering quicker ground this season, so any rain would be a worry.
Finally, Snow Fairy has been supplemented for the race in recent days and it is easy to see why after her impressive seasonal reappearance at Goodwood. She improved for the step up to 1¼ miles that day but there might be a question mark over her ability to stay a truly run mile and a half.
It is surely significant that Michael Jarvis intends to let SAJJHAA take her chance here and in a year in which there isn’t a standout contender the once raced filly can prove a class above her opposition here.
Another lightly raced filly, Remember When can give the selection the most to do, whilst another Irish challenger, Akdarena, looks to have solid each way claims.
Cabaret could prove best of the outsiders.
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 effectivelyput 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.
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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.
These are the winners of the Oak since 2000:
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 twenty most recent winners ran in the following trials: