Yorkshire Oaks

today is Ladies Day at York with 4 of the 6 races confined to fillies. Main event is the Group One Yorkshire Oaks over 1 1/2 miles at 16.40 CET, in which older fillies and mares can also run, and 3 of the 7 runners are 4yo´s. Best of them is French-trained Shareta (Alain de Royer-Dupré/ Christophe Lemaire), runner-up in last year´s Arc; she is a bit one-paced and normally makes the running, and will find the fast ground to her liking. German-owned Wild Coco (Sir Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally) came back from almost a year´s break to win in good style over further at Goodwood last time, but this is a much tougher race.
We expect the 3yo´s, who receive 10 lbs from their elders, to dominate here and all 4 of of them ran in the Oaks at Epsom. Was (Aidan O´Brien/ Seamus Heffernan) was the winner then, with Shirocco Star (Hughie Morrison/ Richard Hughes) runner-up, The Fugue (John Gosden/ William Buick) third and Coquet (Morrison/ Robert Havlin) sixth. However Was was arguably lucky to win there, as it was a very rough race and she avoided all the trouble. The Fugue and Coquet were badly hampered, and The Fugue, who has since won the Nassau Stakes over 10 furlongs in excellent style, is the likely favourite today. Shirocco Star, like Wild Coco a daughter of German Derby winner Shirocco, was also runner-up in the Irish Oaks, but normally the progeny of this sire like a bit of cut in the ground. This looks a very tricky race, and while we think that The Fugue could come out on top, she is not much value at the likely price.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Rocky Ground - Mister Marc - Hototo
2. Race: Newfangled - Baileys Jubilee - Rosdhu Queen
3. Race: Trade Storm - Switzerland - Anderiego
4. Race: The Fugue - Shareta - Was
5. Race: Sequence - Pale Mimosa - Bite Of The Cherry
6. Race: Ladyship - Riot Of Colour - Whimsical