Pedigree guide to the 11 fillies declared for the Cazoo Oaks at Epsom
John Ingles assesses the pedigrees of the 11 fillies declared for Friday's Cazoo Oaks at Epsom.
CONCERT HALL
Dubawi – Was (Galileo)
Dubawi has yet to sire a winner of either of the Epsom classics but he’s well able to get good horses over a mile and a half, including Coronation Cup winner Postponed, out of the right sort of mare. Concert Hall could hardly have better credentials on her dam’s side, being a daughter of Was, winner of a very messy Oaks in 2012. There’s more Epsom classic success a bit further back in the family too, with Derby winner New Approach a half-brother to Concert Hall’s grandam.
EMILY UPJOHN
Sea The Stars – Hidden Brief (Barathea)
60,000 guineas yearling. Sea The Stars has already got an Oaks winner in 2014 heroine Taghrooda and two years later he came up with a Derby winner when Harzand joined his sire on the race’s roll of honour. As well as sharing her sire with Harzand, Emily Upjohn also comes from that colt’s family as their dams are half-sisters. Emily Upjohn’s dam Hidden Brief failed her Oaks audition when a beaten favourite in the Cheshire Oaks but was a useful winner (Timeform rating 100) at a mile and a quarter.
KAWIDA
Sir Percy – Kandahari (Archipenko)
Kirsten Rausing’s homebred filly Kawida has a bit of a ‘different’ pedigree but it’s still one associated with classic success at Epsom as a daughter of 2006 Derby winner Sir Percy. Her dam Kandahari was just a fair handicapper in Ireland, where she won a couple of races at Gowran over nearly a mile and a quarter, but Kandahari’s half-brother Zaaki, no more than a smart performer for Sir Michael Stoute (won the Diomed Stakes on Derby Day in 2019), is a high-class Group 1 winner in Australia these days.
MOON DE VEGA
Lope de Vega – Lunesque (Azamour)
Ralph Beckett has won the Oaks twice with Look Here and Talent and has handled some smart fillies by Lope de Vega too, including Manuela de Vega and Antonia de Vega who both stayed a mile and a half. Moon de Vega is the first living foal out of her dam who won a maiden over 11 furlongs in France. Without yielding any superstars, the immediate family has produced plenty of good middle-distance performers in France, including Lunesque’s half-sister Celemene who was fourth in the Prix de Diane.
NASHWA
Frankel – Princess Loulou (Pivotal)
Not only is Nashwa by Frankel, responsible for the Gosden stable’s most recent Oaks winner Anapurna in 2019, she’s also out of a mare by Pivotal as was 2020 Oaks winner Love. Nashwa’s dam might not have stayed a mile and a half herself, but she was a smart filly (rated 115) up to a mile and a quarter and has produced a useful winner who does stay a mile and a half, Louganini. Nashwa hasn’t encountered such conditions yet but it could be worth noting that both her dam and half-brother did all their winning on soft/heavy ground.
ROGUE MILLENNIUM
Dubawi – Hawaafez (Nayef)
35,000 guineas two-year-old. Rogue Millennium is another daughter of Dubawi out of a mare with plenty of stamina. A Shadwell cast-off, she’s out of the smart Hawaafez (rated 115) whose biggest win in Sheikh Hamdan’s colours came in the Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot though she also won a listed race at Newbury over 13 furlongs. Rogue Millennium’s full brother Khatm won seven races last year, his last win coming over an extended mile and a half. She’s from the same family as The Algarve.
THE ALGARVE
American Pharoah – Imagine (Sadler’s Wells)
US triple crown winner American Pharoah showed again that he can get top winners on turf in Europe when his daughter Above The Curve won the Prix Saint-Alary just last weekend. The Algarve is the second filly in the field out of an Oaks winner, Imagine successful back in 2001. Herself a half-sister to Derby winner Generous, Imagine’s 11 winners include Horatio Nelson and Van Gogh (a full brother to The Algarve), both of them Group 1-winning two-year-olds in France for Ballydoyle.
THOUGHTS OF JUNE
Galileo – Discreet Marq (Discreet Cat)
No Oaks field would be complete without at least one daughter of Galileo, responsible for four winners of the race already, including Concert Hall’s dam Was and Tuesday’s sister Minding. Thoughts of June’s dam was an ‘Oaks’ winner herself, albeit the Del Mar Oaks over nine furlongs, and was a smart filly (rated 118) on turf in the States at that trip and a mile. There shouldn’t be any stamina doubts for Thoughts of June, though, as her full sister Florence Camille won a Roscommon maiden over a mile and a half last season.
TRANQUIL LADY
Australia – Repose (Quiet American)
£160,000 yearling. Another filly with Epsom classic success in her breeding, by Derby winner Australia who was himself out of Oaks winner Ouija Board. That should mean Tranquil Lady stays further than her very smart older half-brother/stablemate State of Rest who recently added the Prix Ganay to the Cox Plate he won in Australia. Although by sprinter Starspangledbanner, he stays a mile and a quarter well. Their unraced dam is out of a listed-winning daughter of champion US filly It’s In The Air.
TUESDAY
Galileo – Lillie Langtry (Danehill Dancer)
Tuesday steps up from a mile after finishing second in the Irish 1000 Guineas just like her sister Minding who successfully stayed the additional half-mile at Epsom to win the Oaks in 2016. However, the pick of Minding’s efforts came at shorter and she was never even tried over the Oaks trip again even though she saw it out well in soft ground. Another sister, Empress Josephine, won last year’s Irish 1000 Guineas but Coronation and Matron Stakes winner Lillie Langtry hasn’t produced any other winners over this far from repeat matings with Galileo.
WITH THE MOONLIGHT
Frankel – Sand Vixen (Dubawi)
The second daughter of Frankel in the line-up and she’ll be relying heavily on her sire to see out this trip because it’s all speed on the dam’s side of her pedigree. The useful Sand Vixen (rated 107), raced only at two, with the biggest of her three wins coming in the Flying Childers. She has already produced one good winner to Frankel, the smart gelding Dream Castle, though he was never tried over a mile and a half and didn’t win beyond nine furlongs.
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