Legatissimo, the winner of the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May, was a drifter on Monday in the betting for the Oaks at Epsom on 5 June in the face of continued strong support for Crystal Zvezda, one of five possible rides in the race for Ryan Moore.
Crystal Zvezda was a 25‑1 chance for the Oaks as she went into the stalls for a Listed race at Newbury on Saturday, but was cut to single-figure odds after her smooth three-and-a-half-length success and is now closing in on Legatissimo at the head of the market. William Hill reported a £5,000 cash bet on Sir Michael Stoute’s filly at 7-1 on Monday and cut her a point to 6-1, while BetFred goes 5-1 (from 7-1).
Moore has already ridden the first two Classic winners of the season, Gleneagles and Legatissimo, and while the jockey remains a big price to complete an unprecedented clean sweep of all five, his eventual mount in an open race for the Oaks could well start favourite primarily because he is aboard.
Until earlier this year Moore was retained as Stoute’s principal jockey and in numerical terms, the Newmarket trainer is still his main employer in Britain. Crystal Zvezda was the final leg of a five-timer for Moore on Saturday which also included the victory of Stoute’s Telescope in the Aston Park Stakes.
Moore has developed a closer association with Aidan O’Brien’s stable this season and while Legatissimo is trained by David Wachman, she runs in the colours of Michael Tabor, a member of the Coolmore Stud syndicate which owns the overwhelming majority of O’Brien’s runners.
O’Brien’s team for the Derby is looking unusually thin this year, but he has three fillies with realistic Oaks aspirations in Diamondsandrubies, the Cheshire Oaks winner; Together Forever, the runner-up in last Wednesday’s Musidora Stakes; and Found, a Group One winner as a juvenile. He also trains Kissed By Angels, a Group Three winner at Leopardstown this month and generally a 14-1 chance for the Oaks, though she is also a possible runner in the Irish 1,000 Guineas on Sunday.
Sole Power, who has finished first, second and fourth in his three runs in the Temple Stakes, is favourite at a top price of 4-1 to win the race for a second time at Haydock Park on Saturday.
Sixteen horses were declared for the Group Two contest over five furlongs at the five-day stage on Monday, including last year’s winner Hot Streak and the veteran Kingsgate Native, who took the race in 2010 and 2013.
The most significant race of the weekend is at The Curragh, where Ivawood and Estidhkaar will represent Richard Hannon in the Irish 2,000 Guineas on Saturday.
Ivawood finished third to Gleneagles in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, while Estidhkaar finished 14th of the 18 runners despite starting as the joint-third favourite at 6-1.
“Ivawood is a big colt and maybe he was not as fit as we thought he was in the trial [in the Greenham Stakes],” Hannon said on Monday, “but you saw the real Ivawood in the Guineas and while we aren’t claiming we would have beaten Gleneagles, we might have been a length or two closer had we not been drawn out in the middle.
“Estidhkaar, in contrast, never ran a race in the Guineas. He did not enjoy the dips and ridges of the Rowley Mile when he injured himself in last year’s Dewhurst Stakes, so we think The Curragh will suit him better.
“He worked really well when Dane O’Neill came to sit on him on Saturday and he can also expect easier ground in Ireland, which will suit him.”
