Epsom Friday

Cazoo Oaks (Group 1)

ONE aspect of the Oaks which couldn’t be predicted at the time of declarations was that the field would track across to the stands’ rail, but constant rain through the day turned the ground soft, and that’s exactly what happened. While a few of the runners were helped or hindered to varying degrees because of that, the winner, Snowfall (Aidan O’Brien/Frankie Dettori) made sure there were no hard luck stories by absolutely blitzing her rivals, the winning margin of 16 lengths the largest in the history of the classic.

Mystery Angel (George Boughey/Ben Curtis) was always in the van, leading early in the straight, and she battled on well having been hampered by the winner to hold second from Divinely (Aidan O’Brien/Seamie Heffernan), who came from the rear and raced furthest from the favoured rail. Santa Barbara travelled well but simply failed to stay in the ground and faded to fifth.

Dettori’s guile

The early pace was quite solid, with Hollie Doyle keen to make the most of a wide draw on Sherbet Lemon, pursued by La Joconde and Mystery Angel, but there was no let up, with several other riders keen to take a prominent position before the home turn in the knowledge that the field was likely to make for the stands’ side, and as a result the race ended up being quite attritional, and no doubt that accentuated the winner’s superiority.

Dettori showed all his guile here, choosing not to go forward as Ryan Moore had when winning the Musidora, but biding his time in the rear of mid- division, ensuring that his filly had room, before launching a challenge with three furlongs to run.

She rather brushed both Sherbet Lemon and Mystery Angel out of her way as she edged across to the rails, but she was soon in an unassailable lead which she merely increased over the final furlong and a half.

High regard

The winner has always been held in high regard by her trainer despite things rarely going smoothly in her juvenile season, and there is a particular irony that she and stablemate Mother Earth, who raced under the wrong identities in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket last season, should have made up for that moment of extreme embarrassment by going on to with the Oaks and 1000 Guineas respectively.

Plenty of people thought that she had stolen the Musidora, myself included, but to win the Oaks in contrasting style throws that notion out of the window and the doubters will be quieter for a while after this stunning display.

“I wanted a better position, but they were going far too fast, so I let them get on with it,” said Dettori afterwards, before explaining that he knew he had the race won coming round Tattenham Corner. His tactics were perfect, even if his mount didn’t have so much in hand, and that ability of champions to switch plans mid-race explains why he’s a go-to jockey for Aidan O’Brien in such circumstances. The Italian, always one to entertain, went on to describe the race in his own inimitable way: “It was a bit like Cowboys and Indians, and I was the cowboy with the gun!”