This year’s Group 1 Oaks will be worth a record £523,800 after Anipa, Honor
Bound, Lily Rules and Marsh Daisy were supplemented Saturday at a cost of
£30,000 each for the 1 1/2-mile fillies’ classic at Epsom Downs on June 6.
With 16 six-day confirmations also going forward, a total of 20 fillies could
line up in the highlight of Ladies’ Day.
Anipa, unbeaten in three starts this season, has already captured an Oaks,
having posted a half-length success the Cheshire Oaks at Chester on May 7. The
daughter of 2009 Derby winner Sea the Stars is a 25-1 chance with Coral.
Honor Bound has been purchased by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Thani
following a nose victory in the Oaks Trial at Lingfield on May 10. The Ralph
Beckett-trained filly certainly boasts a pedigree for Epsom Downs, being by the
2007 Derby hero Authorized and a half-sister to the 2011 Derby runner-up
Treasure Beach.
Lily Rules is set to be a first classic runner for trainer Tony Coyle. The
daughter of Aussie Rules went down by 1 1/2 lengths to Madame Chiang on soft
ground in the Musidora Stakes over 10 1/2 furlongs at York on May 14.
“I brought Lily Rules over to Richard Fahey’s gallops this morning for her
final piece of work, just to take her away somewhere, and she worked very, very
well,” Malton-based Coyle reported Saturday. “She is ready to go and the more
rain, the better for her. She loves cut in the ground and it looks like that
there will be plenty of it next week, so that’s what swayed it for us. She goes
on good going but she is just more effective on soft because she handles it
better than a lot of other fillies.
“We fancied her to run a big race at York. She was very unlucky in the Nell
Gwyn at Newmarket — when the gaps came, she wasn’t quite quick enough to go for
them because seven furlongs is way too short for her.
“She started off over five furlongs but she is out of a Giant’s Causeway mare
and ran well over a mile in a Listed race at Haydock Park last year, when she
was third and Chriselliam was second.
“What she lacks in ability, she makes up for in toughness — she is as tough
as old boots. We are going down to Epsom Downs hopeful rather than confident and
we would be over the moon if she finished in the first five.”
Marsh Daisy has been added to the Oaks following an impressive win in the
Height of Fashion Stakes at Goodwood on May 22. Snow Fairy, successful in the
2010 Oaks, was also supplemented for Epsom Downs after capturing the same
contest.
Pretty Polly Stakes winner Taghrooda and recent Irish One Thousand Guineas
heroine Marvellous currently head the market for the Oaks. The pair are both
100-30 chances with Coral.
Taghrooda’s owner, Hamdan Al Maktoum, could also be represented by the Dermot
Weld-trained Tarfasha, who comfortably took a Group 3 contest at Naas on May 14,
while Bracelet and Tapestry feature among Aidan O’Brien’s possible six
contenders.
Other notable confirmations include One Thousand Guineas third Ihtimal,
Newbury Listed scorer Volume, and Amazing Maria, who worked at “Breakfast With
The Stars” at Epsom Downs on Thursday.
Ladies’ Day at Epsom also features the Group 3, £70,000 Diomed Stakes, and
the extended mile contest has attracted 13 entries including last year’s winner
Gregorian and recent Goodwood Listed scorer French Navy.
Racing gets underway with the Group 3, £70,000 Princess Elizabeth Stakes,
also over an extended mile, in which last year’s Irish One Thousand Guineas
winner Just the Judge heads 13 entries.
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