- Day one of the Epsom Derby meeting takes place on Friday
- The fillies’ classic, the Oaks, will be the feature race of the day
- Ylang Ylang is tipped to flourish stepping up in distance to a mile-and-a-half
It’s the speedometer that catches your eye. At Ballydoyle, the training centre that sets its store on producing Classic winners, the little details and fine margins can make massive gains.
Aidan O’Brien likes his squadron of blue-blooded thoroughbreds to come up the all-weather gallop no faster than 42kmh (26mph) and he watches them all forensically before scurrying off to get a verdict on how things have gone.
On the morning we stand together, Ylang Ylang shows great exuberance in her work and each time, the master trainer is simply told: ‘very good, Aidan.’ O’Brien has always felt this filly could prove to be out of the top drawer and this afternoon she will get the chance to prove it.
Nobody could suggest for a moment this season has started in the manner that O’Brien would have wanted. He’s failed to win any of the 10 Group One events that have been run in Europe thus far and there have been some high-profile disappointments on the way.
But as sure as tomorrow is Saturday, things will change for O’Brien and his incredible record in the Betfred Oaks – he’s won it 10 times in 26 years – demands you pay the closest of attention to his two representatives this afternoon, Ylang Ylang being joined by Rubies Are Red, who pleased the stable with her return to action at Lingfield, in a field of 12.
Ryan Moore is tipped to ride another winner for Aidan O’Brien with Ylang Ylang favoured
O’Brien’s ability to make fillies take a big leap forward from one run to the next is remarkable and Ylang Ylang’s performance in the mile of QIPCO 1000 Guineas earlier this month, when she came thundering home to finish an eye-catching fifth, had Epsom stamped all over it.
Her genes scream quality – her father is Frankel – and, in his Betfair column, her jockey Ryan Moore, who will be bidding for his fifth Oaks triumph, did nothing to dissuade the opinion that Ylang Ylang will flourish now stepping up in distance to a mile-and-a-half.
‘She was doing all her best work at the finish when winning the Fillies’ Mile on soft ground last season,’ said Moore. ‘She again shaped as if a greater test of stamina would suit when fifth in the Guineas and that is the best form on offer going into this race – by some way.
‘There are plenty in here with the potential to come up to her level, and I think the betting has it right that Rubies Are Red and Ezeliya (trained by Dermot Weld) are probably the two most dangerous opponents but my filly is in good shape for this test.’
Ylang Ylang is being tipped to flourish now stepping up in distance to a mile-and-a-half
That was evident on a blustery morning in Tipperary, when Ylang Ylang swept up the hill straining at the reins and eager to go a good bit faster than the speed O’Brien imposes. She will take some beating but, as Moore warned, dangers abound.
Ralph Beckett, especially, has a fine hand to play with three runners. The Royal runner, Treasure, is intriguing but You Got To Me and Forest Fairy both won trials at Lingfield and Chester and, of the trio, the last named ticks a lot of boxes.
‘She did everything I asked her to do at Chester,’ her jockey Rossa Ryan explained. ‘The more questions I asked her, the more she answered. It was a proper race.’
Forest Fairy beat an O’Brien filly (Port Fairy) that afternoon. If she wants to win the big one, she will have to do the same again.
My three
1. Ylang Ylang 2. Forest Fairy 3. Secret Satire
