Rhododendron winning her maiden at Goodwood last year. Picture courtesy of Alan Crowhurst and Getty Images.
Rhododendron didn’t quite have the turn of foot over a mile to catch Winter in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket. She was closing with every stride but the line came too soon. Over this extra 4 furlongs she’ll be well fancied and now trades a shade of odds on at 10/11 to continue Aidan O’Brien’s dominance of the Irish and English Classics. She’ll have Pocketfullofdreams here to set the pace for her. Can she be beaten?
The English trainers and one American trainer have the unenviable job of trying to stop the Coolmore backed bandwagon and John Gosden is responsible for two in the race. Enable chalked up at 6/1 won the Chester Oaks with Frankie Dettori on board from another Aidan O’Brien runner Alluringly whose a 25/1 shot. Enable took it up at the three furlong pole with Alluringly in hot pursuit. The pair pulled well clear of the remainder of the field and when they reached the line Frankie Dettori had a comfortable 1 3/4 L to spare over Ryan Moore.
John Gosden is also responsible for Coronet priced at 12/1. Like Enable she will be having her fourth racecourse start. She won a Leicester maiden last September then adding the Zetland Stakes before being put away for the winter. Her return this year brought her to France to contest the Prix Saint-Alary (G1) on soft ground. She couldn’t justify favouritism in what was a messy race with plenty of scrummaging. Frankie had to drop her in and then bring her wide to make up ground. She was doing her best at the finish and stayed on to be third and these extra two furlongs will be a help to her here. Godolphin’s Sobetsu available at 8/1 won the race in good style returning to the form she’d shown as a two-year old. There was promise in her maiden win and she’d gone off joint favourite with Rhododendron in the Fillies Mile but struggled on the good to firm ground running nearer last than first trailing in fifth beaten 15 L.
Andrew Balding’s who won The Oaks with Casual Look in 2003 runs Horseplay generally trading at 14/1. She comes into the reckoning on the back of a decent winning performance at Newmarket at Listed level where she beat the outsider here Isabel De Urbina 3/4 L. She can be backed at 33/1. This is a big step up for Horseplay who is a filly going the right way.
Natavia like Enable is a daughter of Nathaniel. She’s 12/1 and was an impressive winner also at Listed level when she hosed up under a hands and heels ride from Ryan Moore at Newbury and she is also a a filly on the rise.
It’s great to have an American filly here. Kenneth McPeek sends Daddys Lil Darlin who brings the Kentucky Oaks form to Epsom. On a sloppy dirt track at Churchill Downs she ran a cracker coming from off the pace to run second to Able Tazman. The further she went the better she got. She’s the most experienced in the field having already run nine times winning twice including the Pocahontas Stakes (G2) and she’s also run second in three Grade 1’s.
In her one experience on turf in the Florida Oaks (G3) she could only manage sixth. The market view is she’s exposed and can’t translate her dirt capability to turf and possibly won’t stay the distance here. That might explain why she is such a big price at 50/1.
Rhododendron is a worthy favourite on her two-year old form and on her hot Guineas run but in a race that can often produce surprises she’s too short to back. The market might be wrong about the American filly. The track is drying out and will be good to firm by post time giving the best possibility to replicate the fast dirt tracks she’s used to running on at home. If she stay’s she can outrun her odds and run into a place.
Recommendation: Daddys Lil Darlin 50/1 ew
Rhododendron and Daddys Lil Darlin (RFC)