Lady O’Reilly’s unbeaten CHINESE WHITE (Dalakhani) will take her
place in the line-up for next Friday’s Oaks (Eng-G1), trainer Dermot Weld
confirmed Thursday. Following her impressive success in the listed Victor Mccalmont Memorial S. at Gowran Park May 4, the homebred will ship in to Epsom
for her biggest test.
“She worked after Casual Conquest yesterday, and I was
very pleased with her,” he said. “It is now pretty certain that she will run in
the Oaks. She is a very good filly and quickened nicely in her work. There are
some very good fillies in the Oaks this year, but I think she is entitled to
take her chance.”
Aidan O’Brien will rely on a squadron of runners in the Oaks, with Michael
Tabor, Derrick Smith and Susan Magnier’s listed Cheshire Oaks winner SAIL
(Sadler’s Wells) heading the team.
“We hope to have four or five runners,”
O’Brien said. “We have a filly called ADORED (Galileo [Ire]) who won a
Group race (Blue Wind S. [Ire-G3]) at Naas on her last start, and the second that day,
TIFFANY DIAMOND (Sadler’s Wells), is also a possible. Irish One Thousand Guineas
(Ire-G1) winner HALFWAY TO HEAVEN (Pivotal) will hopefully go to the Prix
de Diane Hermes (French Oaks) ([Fr-G1] at Chantilly June 8), and KITTY
MATCHAM (Rock
of Gibraltar [Ire]) is a possible. MOONSTONE (Dalakhani), who ran (fourth) in
the Musidora S. (Eng-G3), is very possible, along with Sail and SOINLOVEWITHYOU
(Sadler’s Wells).”