The Oaks 2015 Preview

Crystal Ballin' - Crystal Zvezda looks a major player in the Oaks.

It took a while to get there, but with the middle two classics of the season just days away now the markets for this year’s Derby and Oaks have finally taken shape.

The fancy prices may have disappeared now but with so much uncertainty over so many contenders in both races over the last few months playing the waiting game with Epsom 2015 has probably been a smart move.

With a short-priced favourite in the Derby there definitely looks to be some value lurking and although the Oaks looks more open, at least as far as the betting goes, I’m pretty keen on the chances of one of the main challengers.

The filly in question is Sir Michael Stoute’s Crystal Zvezda, an impressive winner of a Listed race at Newbury last month, the same race last year’s Oaks third Volume won en route to Epsom.

Drawn unfavourably she was dropped in by Ryan Moore and looked in trouble at one point before switching right over to the outside and flying home like a very good horse indeed to win by 3 ½ lengths.

The bigger quotes about her for Epsom all evaporated on the back of this sparkling performance but a best price of 7/2 at present still seems fair enough to me.

Losing Ryan Moore from the saddle as looks likely is not ideal, but with champion jockey Richard Hughes set to step in as a replacement it’s not the end of the world. Although I’m not always Hughes’s biggest fan his style should gel quite well with Crystal Zvezda and I can see him producing a ride akin to his winning effort on Talent two years ago to pilot this progressive filly home.

Related to the likes of Hillstar and Crystal Cappella, though stamina is far from assured after only three lifetime starts to date, her breeding would suggest she’ll get home, and her potent turn of foot could be the deciding factor in what looks a red hot renewal of the Oaks on paper.

1000 Guineas winner Legatissimo is obviously a worthy favourite and given that race was the one that on paper shouldn’t have suited her, this step up in trip is likely to yield further improvement.

If that does occur we could be talking about an unexpected Triple Crown bid before too long, but the Oaks looks a deeper race than the Guineas so she’ll need to improve again to take the second leg on the potential road to immortality.

Jack Naylor ran an eye-catching trial for this in the Irish Guineas and has been well supported in recent days, she too looks like she’ll be better over further and could play a big part in proceedings if that transpires to be the case.

Surprisingly we’re still to mention an Aidan O’Brien or John Gosden inmate yet, two trainers that normally have a strong hand for this race. Both do once again come here with more than one arrow to fire though and O’Brien’s Diamondsandrubies and Together Forever and Gosden’s Star Of Seville and Jazzi Top all are not without chances for the two master trainers once more, though probably aren’t the really well fancied runners we’re used to from these two.

O’Brien also has Wedding Vow and Qualify as potential runners though they look big outsiders on what they’ve achieved so far, meaning best of the rest is probably Luca Cumani’s Lady Of Dubai, an impressive winner at Goodwood last time out.

It’s a strong-looking Oaks this year, but I was immediately taken with Crystal Zvezda after her Newbury win and other than her price collapsing rapidly over the past few weeks nothing has curbed my enthusiasm for this well bred filly.

Her trainer seems uncharacteristically bullish about her chances and open to more progression on what will be only her fourth start to date she looks to hold a big chance of taking centre stage in the 2015 Oaks.

Recommendation:

Crystal Zvezda 1pt win @ 7/2 (Bet365, Boylesports)