French raider value to win Yorkshire Oaks

There are a couple of Group races on the second day of the Yorkshire Ebor Festival, with the main course being the Yorkshire Oaks over 12 furlongs on the Knavesmire.

Only seven fillies and mares have stood their grounds for the Group One contest but it shapes as a terrific race featuring Epsom Oaks winner Was, Nassau Stakes winner The Fugue and several other thoroughbreds who have been pretty unfortunate not to take out one of the highest rated races.

Bookmakers have put up The Fugue as the ante-post Yorkshire Oaks favourite and the John Gosden-trained filly is likely to jump from the stalls as the market leader on the strength of her victory in the Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.

The Fugue is a genuine Group One-class filly who was unlucky in the Epsom Derby and found the good-to-soft ground against her in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot when she was no match for Princess Highway representing Dermot Weld`s yard.

The question for prospective Yorkshire Oaks backers of The Fugue is: does the three-year-old daughter of Dansili prefer 10 furlongs to 12 furlongs? Both of her victories this year have been in 10-furlong races and the Nassau Stakes was a crawl for the first few furlongs. Twelve furlongs at the very highest level may not be her thing and, at the likely starting prices, she is a filly that demands opposing.

What about Was? Well, Aidan O`Brien filly was a shock 20-1 Epsom Derby winner and she has been beaten a total of eight lengths in her two subsequent races. However, there are fair excuses for her losses in the Irish Oaks and Nassau Stakes. She got baulked at a critical point at The Curragh and the slow pace of the Goodwood event did her no favours at all.

Then there is Shirocco Star, the admirably consistent filly handled by Hughie Morrison who has placed second in two Group One contests. The big negative against the mount of Richard Hughes is that she always seems to find one better than her and that is poison for win-only punters.

Bible Belt, Coquet and Wild Coco will have their supporters in a competitive renewal of the Yorkshire Oaks but the value betting option is Shareta, the French raider whose trainer, Alain de Royer-Dupre, may have found the perfect race for the first-class four-year-old daughter of Sinndar.

One could argue that Shareta has a similar flaw to that of Shirocco Star - she has won only three of her dozen races, including none of her last six - but it is the quality of the thoroughbreds she has been chasing home that makes her such an interesting Yorkshire Oaks betting proposition.

Last time out, Shareta was a one-and-a-quarter-length second to Meandre in a four-runner Group One event at Saint-Cloud in Paris. Since then, Meandre has reappeared and won another Group One over 12 furlongs, this time in Germany. And that is not all, with the Saint-Cloud form franked last month in no less than the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Danedream went from finishing fourth at Saint-Cloud, two lengths adrift of Shareta, to beating Nathaniel and eight others at Ascot in one of the best races of the year.

That is what makes Shareta, who has winning form on sound surfaces, the best bet given the Yorkshire Oaks prices.

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23/08/2012     © Frixo 2024