The Oaks: Timeform preview, tip and free racecard (2024)

The Oaks (16:30) at Epsom on Friday is available as a free Race Pass, which means logged-in customers can view all our premium comments and ratings.

A day before the Derby, the fillies get their chance for classic glory over Epsom’s unique mile and a half in the Oaks (16:30). Twelve have been declared, with ten-time winner Aidan O’Brien going for a seventh win since 2015, while Ralph Beckett fields four in a race he has won twice himself. Two more trainers with the ‘Hot Trainer’ flag who have been successful in the past, Dermot Weld and Andrew Balding, are also represented again this year.

Ylang Ylang (Timeform weight-adjusted rating122) is Ryan Moore’s choice of the two Ballydoyle fillies and is a Group 1 winner already, having gained the last of her three wins at two in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket when staying on to beat Shuwari half a length. She shaped more like an Oaks filly than a 1000 Guineas winner last autumn but still ran a good race back at Newmarket earlier in the month when keeping on well from off a good pace to finish a never-nearer fifth to Elmalka, beaten less a length and earning the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag. By Frankel who has sired two Oaks winners to date, Ylang Ylang promises to be suited by the longer trip and looks the one to beat.

Dermot Weld’s Oaks winner Blue Wind came right back in 1981 but he has a leading contender again with the progressive Aga Khan filly Ezeliya (116p). She stayed on well to win a maiden at Cork on soft ground in the autumn and relished the extra two furlongs when making a successful reappearance in the Group 3 Salsabil Stakes at Navan last month, leading late on to beat favourite Purple Lily half a length. Out of Eziyra who was third in the Irish Oaks, Ezeliya can improve again.

The pick of Ralph Beckett’s quartet looks to beForest Fairy(113p), winner of both her starts, including the Cheshire Oaks last time. After a successful debut over a mile and a half at Wolverhampton in February, she followed up at Chester three months later with a head win over Port Fairy but was value for a shade more after having to wait for a gap and impressing with her attitude once getting a clear run. Proven at this trip, she’ll have learnt plenty from her last run.

Beckett won another of the main trials, the Oaks Trial at Lingfield, with You Got To Me (111p) who went with zest in a clear lead and then found extra in the closing stages to beat O’Brien’s Rubies Are Red (110p) by half a length. Both are open to improvement, particularly the runner-up who still had plenty to do two furlongs out before staying on strongly to take second close home and would have won in a few more strides. Although still a maiden after three starts, Rubies Are Red has plenty about her physically as well as a superb pedigree, being a Galileo sister to Arc winner Found and related to Oaks winner Snowfall.

Beckett’s other two fillies, Treasure (108p) and Seaward (108), have more improvement to find than most having been beaten in those trials at Lingfield and Chester. Seaward won a novice at Ascot last season and showed plenty of improvement to finish just over a length third to Forest Fairy at Chester, while Treasure, a rangy filly with scope who won a maiden at Nottingham on heavy ground on her only start last year, shaped well in finishing a keeping-on fourth to You Got To Me at Lingfield, earning the ‘Horse In Focus’ flag, and is likely to progress again.

Andrew Balding won another of the main trials, the Musidora Stakes, with Secret Satire (117) who beat subsequent listed winner Francophone by two lengths at York. But while she has progressed with each run so far, the Musidora was essentially a test of speed and she’ll need to settle better to see out this longer trip, something not guaranteed by her pedigree.

Godolphin filly Dance Sequence (117) isn’t certain to relish this much longer trip either, and while she looked an exciting prospect in winning both her starts at Newmarket last year, including the Oh So Sharp Stakes, she didn’t really knuckle down when beaten a neck in the Nell Gwyn Stakes on her reappearance and failed to build on that when only ninth in the 1000 Guineas last time.

Making Dreams (118) has a very different profile to the rest of these, having had a busy two-year-old campaign when she was beaten in sellers before winning in maiden/nursery company. However, she showed she goes well in the mud when putting up a career-best effort on her reappearance to win the Group 3 Prix Penelope at Saint-Cloud in April by six lengths but wasn’t in the same form back in France in the Prix Saint-Alary at Longchamp last time.

Caught U Looking (111) won twice at two, including the Group 3 Weld Park Stakes on heavy ground at the Curragh, but is hard to make a case for based on subsequent defeats behind Ylang Ylang in the Fillies’ Mile and Ezeliya at Navan. Similarly, War Chimes (112) was a heavy-ground winner at two, in a listed race at Chantilly, for ‘Hot Trainer’ David Menuisier, but her two runs back in France this spring suggest she faces a stiff task in this company.

Timeform analyst’s verdict

Ylang Ylang looked ready for further when a promising fifth in the 1000 Guineas and can provide her yard with a seventh Oaks win since 2015. It's 43 years since Dermot Weld broke his Classic duck in this race with Blue Wind but he looks to have found a live contender in Ezeliya, who should relish 1½m. Ralph Beckett in 2013 was the last trainer other than Aidan O'Brien and the Gosdens to taste success in this and Cheshire Oaks winner Forest Fairy looks the pick of his quartet.

Timeform weight-adjusted ratings

122 Ylang Ylang

118 Making Dreams

117 Dance Sequence

117 Secret Satire

116p Ezeliya

113p Forest Fairy

112 War Chimes

111p You Got To Me

111 Caught U Looking

110p Rubies Are Red

108p Treasure

108 Seaward

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