Hermosa well-backed for the Oaks

Hermosa laid down her Epsom Oaks claims with a scintillating performance in the 1,000 Guineas on Saturday afternoon.

The filly travelled well throughout the race before meeting the dip on the approach for home. The three-year-old was always going to be suited by a strong stamina test and Wayne Lordan rode the perfect race on the daughter of Galileo who needed to set some even fractions.

She was perhaps dismissed by some as a likely pacemaker, down the order on jockey bookings behind Ryan Moore who finished strongly on stablemate Just Wonderful. However, that rival seemed to throw her chance away early in the race when slowest away out of the stalls.

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Aidan O’Brien has won the Guineas with the stables third string before. Many will remember Winter who was an impressive winner before going to win multiple Group 1 races; she was also well ridden by Wayne Lordan in her Classic success.

Qabala fails to land gamble

Roger Varian will be a shade disappointed with Qabala only third in the race. She had been backed like defeat was out of the question prior to her win in the Nell Gwyn last month and was subsequently cut for the Oaks when winning in impressive fashion.

The daughter of Scat Daddy suffered interference at a crucial stage but never looked like picking up the eventual winner.

Other disappointments included juvenile Group 1 winner Skitter Scatter who was beaten a long way from home. Now trained by John Oxx, she looked like a filly who had trained on in the interim. Given her tiny frame, this is hardly a big surprise.

Tom Dascombe’s Iconic Choice could be the one to take out of the race. She finished strongly in the closing stages and she could be seen to better effect with some cut in the ground. Certainly one to look out for in the Oaks next month at a likely big price.

Featured Image Credit:Florian Christoph from Dublin, Ireland [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]