YESTERDAY at York it was all about the boys. Today it is all about the girls. The Yorkshire Oaks is centre stage on the second day of the Ebor Festival and it has a warm favourite to boot.

Irish Oaks heroine Sea Of Class is a general 6/4 shot to attain another Group 1 and she certainly is the right favourite. A May foal, she was viewed by her trainer too inexperienced to go for the Epsom Oaks and that decision looked to have been vindicated at the Curragh where she was having just her fourth ever run and where she won without her rider James Doyle having to go for his whip. It’s very possible there could be significantly more to come from her.

Yet for all the potential she has, her form lacks a little substance when you measure it up to LAURENS, who returns to Britain after scooping two Group 1 races in France, the second of which, the Prix de Diane, has worked out well.

This will be her first start over a mile and a half but the omens are good. She stays 10 furlongs really well and there is lots of stamina on her dam’s side. I’d say she is more likely to improve for a step up in trip than regress and for that reason 4/1 might just be a little big.

Of the remainder, Coronet has been backed this morning. She is a classy filly and came very close to claiming a notable scalp over Waldgeist on her penultimate run. However both she and Dermot Weld’s Eziyra have to concede 9lbs to the three-year-olds and that is a tall order. Magic Wand might have the best piece of form in the race having beaten Nassau Stakes winner Wild Illusion by four lengths in the Ribblesdale but she flopped in the Irish Oaks and she has to get over that now.

The Lowther Stakes is probably not the strongest renewal in recent seasons and bookmakers have it as something of match between Fairyland and Angel’s Hideaway, who finished third and fourth in the Albany at Royal Ascot. Angel’s Hideaway has run twice since then, recording an impressive win in the Princess Margaret Stakes at Ascot most recently. This will be Fairyland’s first appearance since Royal Ascot but she was able to win on her debut so a nine-week absence might not be a huge hindrance.

For all that, it might be worth chancing Richard Fahey’s FLAWLESS JEWEL at 10/1. She finished second on her debut over this course and distance and then won by 16 lengths at Pontefract. Admittedly her win came in a weak maiden but she is a half-sister to last year’s Gimcrack scorer Sands Of Mali (same owners) and this race has probably always been the plan.

In the Clipper Logistics Handicap, the favourite Seniority has come out which has changed the complexion of the race. Firmament is now trading 5/1 favourite with Afaak, a course-and-distance winner earlier this season, in around 6/1. The latter looks the more solid of that pair but one at a bigger price worth considering is Tom Dascombe’s ARCANADA. He is a course-and-distance winner and is down to the same mark he achieved that course-and-distance win off. He also wears first-time blinkers and should improve for this better ground.

KILLARNEY

In Kerry, the feature race on day two of the Killarney August Festival is the K.W.D Kingdom Gold Cup and the answer may be John Murphy’s EMPEROR WALTZ. The five-year-old has a 100% record from three runs at Killarney and comes into this race on the crest of a wave, having achieved two of those wins on his most recent starts. Declan McDonogh has been booked by Murphy, who should always be respected at this picturesque track.

SELECTIONS:

1:55 York - Flawless Jewel, 10/1

3:00 York - Arcanada, 16/1

3:35 York - Laurens, 4/1

5:30 Killarney - Emperor Waltz, 12/1