Compare The Oaks odds from the best bookies and read our big-race preview with betting tip. The 2018 Epsom Oaks is the most important Classic horse race for fillies, over the same course as The Derby. Check out the betting below and claim free bets from bookmakers. Odds updated 17/5 7pm.
Epsom Oaks Betting Odds 2018
4.30pm Friday June 1, 2018; Epsom; click best odds bold; Each-Way Place Terms: 1/4 odds 1,2,3.
2016 Oaks Preview & Each-Way Betting Tip
Minding is the 10/11 favourite to take the Oaks, run over a mile and a half at Epsom but she has every excuse to disappoint (4.30pm Friday, live on Channel 4). She had a tough race only a fortnight ago and will now be asked to go half a mile further than ever before, writes Fiora.
This daughter of Galileo is rated 9lb above the field but she had the hardest race of her life when narrowly beaten by Jet Setting in the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh. ‘The lads’ behind Ballydoyle are not known for campaigning their horses sympathetically.
Two years ago Marvellous, another Galileo filly from Ballydoyle, was rated above the field in the Oaks and started as the favourite. She had won the Irish 1,000 Guineas but was well beaten at Epsom. Ryan Moore reckoned that her efforts on the Curragh put paid to her chances. Marvellous was anything but in her next run too and promptly retired.
On the positive side, Minding (unlike Marvellous) scored twice at the highest level last term and romped to victory in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket. But this is a very different proposition. Cut in the ground is going to put stamina at a premium. Lillie Langtry, Minding’s dam, was a top class performer who was never asked to go further than a mile. Minding looks vulnerable at best and we will be looking for a better value each-way betting tip for this 2016 Oaks preview.
Stablemate Seventh Heaven (16/1) is rated some 20lb below Minding but has form over this distance and is unbeaten in her two starts this season. This Galileo filly showed little in a couple of runs as a two-year-old but won a fillies’ maiden as expected on the all-weather at Dundalk in April over a mile, staying on strongly.
Seventh Heaven went on to win an Oaks trial on the turf at Lingfield a month ago, bravely beating off a strong challenge from Architecture to succeed by a neck. If she can cope with cut in the ground and has retained her fighting spirit she might well run much better than her odds suggest under Colm O’Donoghue.
Ballydoyle’s Somehow (9/1) shares a rating of 98 with Seventh Heaven but has attracted much more support. She gave her followers a fright when she started as the odds-on favourite in the Cheshire Oaks a month ago. Somehow was anything but impressive. Ryan Moore held her up but was soon kicking her along. In the final 150 yards she finally got her head in front, beating Charlie Hills’ Moorside a neck with her tongue hanging out.
Yet another daughter of Galileo, Somehow was described by her trainer as a ‘very relaxed, docile filly’. Perhaps she was surprised by the pace in her first experience of good ground. In her only other start this season she won her maiden at Leopardstown over a mile and two furlongs on heavy under Seamie Heffernan. This will be her fourth start. We can be sure that this filly will not blow her chances by getting over-excited and give in the ground should aid her cause under Heffernan.
Ralph Beckett has form with fillies and won this race with the 20/1 shot, Talent, three years ago. This time his hopes rest with Diamonds Pour Moi (33/1). She made her seasonal debut at Chester, finishing a length behind Somehow in third. She had been up with the pace and stayed on well but could not match the tactical speed of the front pair.
In her only other start she was the 12/1 winner of a fillies’ maiden on the all-weather at Kempton over a mile in November. She is one of the least exposed fillies in the line-up and could be anything but the performance of her dam’s other offspring does not provide confidence. Beckett’s yard is doing better than most and, if she enjoys conditions and Epsom like her sire, Pour Moi, a decent performance might be on the cards.
A similarly unexposed filly is Charlie Appleby’s Skiffle (11/2). She had to be supplemented but that does not mean much when the owners are Godolphin. She had her first ever outing only a month ago at Ascot in a mile and a quarter fillies’ maiden. She gave William Buick a fright when she reared rather than raced out of the stalls but, despite wasting time in the air whilst the field made off, finished third beaten three lengths.
Skiffle managed a more conventional exit from the stalls a fortnight later at Goodwood in the Height Of Fashion Stakes over the same distance. She stayed on strongly to beat the favourite, John Gosden’s The Black Princess, a length. It is not much of a CV but her price suggests some confidence. As a daughter of Dubawi she should not be troubled by some cut in the ground. Her dam was a strong stayer who thrived on soft for Francois Doumen in France.
In contrast Jim Bolger’s Turret Rocks (7/1) has five runs under her belt and, with a mark of 110, is rated as the second best filly in the race by the handicapper. In her only start this term Turret Rocks was far from disgraced in the 1,000 Guineas. She was drawn wide and bustled up by Kevin Manning only to get hampered early on. Turret Rocks was chasing Minding gamely two furlongs out but was tapped for toe and got bumped. She was beaten six lengths into sixth.
Last term she wore a hood in her first three runs, winning her maiden on her debut at Gowran Park over a mile. She was ponied to the start. Kevin Manning got her safely down to the stalls unaided on her next two runs in Group company over seven furlongs. She was beaten a couple of lengths in both. She went to Doncaster next with her pony for the Group 2 May Hill Stakes in September and won. That was over a mile. She was only beaten a length by Ballydoyle in the Group 1 Criterium Des Pouliches at Longchamp a month later. The wily Bolger said last year that Turret Rocks was going to be a mile and a half filly – but he also thought she was suited by top of the ground. She is a daughter of Fastnet Rock out of a Galileo mare and has never run on a surface slower than good.
If you want a filly who should act on softish and is proven over the distance then Hugo Palmer’s Architecture (14/1) could fit the bill. She won her maiden on good to soft at Nottingham in October second time out last term. We have only seen her once since, being narrowly beaten in the Oaks trial at Lingfield by Seventh Heaven.
Palmer is really keen on this filly and recently included her as one of his ‘five horses to follow’. This daughter of Zoffany is drawn wide of the field but will have the benefit of Frankie Dettori’s expert assistance for the first time. She looks interesting as an each-way prospect.
Another filly having her fourth start is Mick Channon’s Harlequeen (20/1). She won first time out in September, taking a maiden over a mile on soft ground at Goodwood. She reappeared in the Tattersalls Millions Trophy over two furlongs further at Newmarket in April. She pulled hard early on in the rear and did not get the smoothest of passages but still managed to finish second, beaten a length by Gosden’s Linguistic.
We last saw this daughter of Canford Cliffs beaten four lengths by Gosden’s star filly, So Mi Dar, in the Musidora. She was held up by Silvestre De Sousa and tested his arm strength again but was outpaced when it mattered and hung left. Harlequeen’s style of running and the yard’s recent form do not inspire much confidence.
The 66/1 outsider of the field, Australian Queen, finished some four lengths behind Harlequeen in the Musidora and has a mountain to climb off her mark of 90. Her half-sister, Arabian Queen, was sent off at 50/1 in the same colours by David Elsworth in the Juddmonte and beat Golden Horn. After five outings Australian Queen will have to find extraordinary improvement to feature here but from this family there is always hope.
Our Oaks Preview’s Betting Tips’ Verdict
Minding is the class act of this bunch but is best watched at her current price of 10/11. Turret Rocks (7/1) is rated 7lb higher than the rest of the field but Jim Bolger’s yard is not exactly flying and conditions are a concern as well as her jockey’s ability to settle her.
Skiffle has realistic claims but 11/2 looks ungenerous for a filly having her third start in a month.
- Our preview’s each-way Oaks betting tip has to be Hugo Palmer’s ARCHITECTURE. The stable is in form, Dettori is an expert at Epsom and this filly has proved she can perform over this trip and acts with cut in the ground. She is best priced at betting odds of 14/1 with Paddy Power, but check the Oaks odds table above for latest betting.
What do you think?