The 2017 renewal of the G2 Lancashire Oaks (Haydock, Saturday, July 8th) looks like being very competitive. Which horses are dominating our live ante-post betting market, right now?
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Age: 4 (Foaled February 11th, 2013)
Sex: Bay Filly
Breeding: Street Cry (IRE) – (Justlookdonttouch)
Trainer: Sir Michael Stoute
Owner: Ballymacoll Stud
Sir Michael Stoute’s 4-year-old was disappointing, in the Park Hill Stakes, finishing 5th and several lengths behind the winner Simple Verse. Despite this failure, she went off as an even-money favourite in the Pontefract Castle Fillies’ Stakes and crushed the opposition by 10 lengths. Abingdon now has 3 Listed victories, under her belt, but does she really have what it takes to win a G2 contest?
Bateel (IRE)
Age: 5 (Foaled May 1st, 2012)
Sex: Bay Mare
Breeding: Dubawi (IRE) – Attractive Crown (USA) (Chief’s Crown (USA)
Trainer: F H Graffard
Owner: Al Asayl Bloodstock Ltd
The 5-year-old Dubawi-sired mare perhaps ran one race too many, in 2016, but she has begun the new campaign well and finished runner-up to Marmelo in the G3 De Barbeville at Chantilly (France). Bateel leapt wildly out of the stalls at Haydock, in the Pinnacle Stakes, but Richard Kingscote did well to steady her at the rear of the field and she ended up winning readily. Big chance.
Ajman Princess (IRE)
Age: 4 (Foaled February 17th, 2013)
Sex: Bay Filly
Breeding: Teofilo (IRE) – Reem Three (Mark of Esteem (IRE)
Trainer: R Varian
Owner: Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum
Like Bateel, this 4-year-old finished last in her final race of 2016 but she made a winning reappearance at Lingfield and then easily won the Daisy Warwick Stakes at Goodwood. The Teofilo-sired filly was 3rd in the Pinnacle Stakes and connections will take some comfort from the from the fact that she was a little keen at the start of the contest. Should go very close.
The likes of Hertford Dancer, The Black Princess, Dubka, Skiffle and Ralph Beckett’s Rich Legacy are also attracting bets.
Race Details
The race-distance is a tad over 1m 3f and the event is strictly for fillies and mares aged at least three years. The purse is around £100,000 pounds. Doug Smith is the most successful jockey of all time, in the Lancashire Oaks. He won the race on six occasions, first with Smoke Screen in 1947 and lastly with Royal Flirt, a full 19 years later. The late Sir Henry Cecil is the trainer with the most Lancashire Oaks successes. His final win came with Sacred Song in 2001.
Previous Champions
Charlie Appleby’s Endless Time won last year and it is a race that has been won by some very good horses, over the years. Great Heavens was the 2012 champion and won as a 3-year-old. Gosden also trained this thoroughbred, which is owned by Lady Rothschild. Sired by Galileo, her dam was Magnificent Style. Magnificent Style won the Musidora Stakes in 1996, but has gained more respect for her performance as a broodmare. Along with Great Heavens, she also delivered the likes of Nathaniel, Percussionist and Changing Skies.
Playful Act, the 2005 Lancashire Oaks winner, is also out of Magnificent Style. Jimmy Fortune was on-board yet another Gosden-trained winner of this fixture. Playful Act was first owned by the Sangster family and then later by Sheikh Mohammed. The Swettenham-Stud-bred mare was sired by Sadler’s Wells and also won the May Hill Stakes and the Fillies Mile. She was named British Champion Two Year-Old Filly in 2004.
Park Express
The Jim Bolger and John Reid partnership struck in 1986, when Park Express took the spoils. Owned by Patrick Burns, bred by Peter Clarke and out of a dam named Matcher, Park Express was sired by Ahonoora. Ahonoora won the Stewards’ Cup (1978), the King George Stakes (1979) and the Sprint Championship (1979). He also sired many great runners, including Dr Devious, Cape Cross and New Approach.
Park Express followed-up her Lancashire Oaks triumph with wins in both the Nassau Stakes (1986) and the Phoenix Champion Stakes (1986). She was named Top-rated Irish three-year-old and Top rated European three-year-old filly, 9½ furlongs plus in 1987. She went on to become a useful broodmare at Lodge Park Stud, which is in County Kilkenny.
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