3 minute read
Charlie Appleby’s believes that Desert Flower heads to Epsom having landed the best possible trial.
Unbeaten as a juvenile following her victory in the Fillies' Mile, Desert Flower put up a polished performance on her return to Newmarket in the 1000 Guineas, bouncing out the gates before stretching clear to get the better of Ollie Sangster's Flight by a length.
Although connections had the option of sticking to a mile for the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, Desert Flower will instead take the jump up to a mile and a half as she attempts to complete a remarkable Classic double for Godolphin, putting her unbeaten record on the line.
Speaking on Godolphin's website, Charlie Appleby said: "Desert Flower has been faultless to date and looks great. We all know that the trip is going to be the question mark, and we won't know whether she stays until we run her over it.
"She looks like a filly who will get a mile and a half and, as far as we are concerned, she has won the best trial for the race."
The daughter of Night Of Thunder is a general 13/8 chance to take the step up in trip in her stride, with the Aidan O'Brien-trained trio of Minnie Hauk, Giselle and Whirl seemingly the main dangers following their respective trial successes.
Minnie Hauwk, who is the chosen mount of Ryan Moore, will head to Epsom on the back of her victory in the Cheshire Oaks, while Giselle and Whirl landed the Lingfield Oaks Trial and Musidora Stakes last time out.
"They've all come out of their last races well," said Aidan O'Brien.
"We liked her (Minne Hauk) last year, she had two good runs. She won second time. She's a lovely straightforward filly and we think she's come forward loads from Chester.
"She was just ready to start, and we had to try and get a run into her somewhere before the Oaks. She would have learnt and sharpened up plenty for that. She handled Chester very well and we've been happy since."
"Giselle just got very keen through the winter and spring, she just wanted to do too much so because of that we didn't get to do an awful lot with her.
"It's all about relaxing her, if you go to the Oaks you have to have a run, so Lingfield was about the only place she could and she was probably very underdone fitness-wise.
"We were delighted with her at Lingfield, and she's come forward a lot. We've had to train her a bit more aggressively since, but the race should have brought her forward."
On the chances of Whirl, who steps up to a mile and a half for the first time, O'Brien added: "She's very straightforward as well. She's got a lovely mind, she got the mile and a quarter well (at York) and she looked like a filly that could get further.
"In York, she definitely wasn't stopping and didn't have any problem with the trip, but a mile and a half is a different thing, and you can't be sure until you try it. It will be interesting to see."
Another filly taking a sizeable step up in trip will be the Saaed bin Suroor-trained Elwateen, who was a highly promising fourth behind Desert Flower in the 1000 Guineas on just her second career start, while Ralph Beckett will be hoping that Revoir can built on her reappearance runner-up effort to Ed Walker's reopposing Qilin Queen in Listed company at Newbury.
Beckett, who has already claimed Epsom Oaks glory twice courtesy of Look Here and Talent, said: "I think she should come forward for the run at Newbury,"
"I felt it was a good starting point, but she was still pretty green through the race. I liked the way she went through the line."
"You would think the step up in trip will probably be in her favour. There are stamina influences on her page, but I have slight reservations in the fact that Regardez (her dam) didn't stay a mile and a half, she got a mile and a quarter well.
"This filly is a slightly different character and is more laid-back than her mother was, but we are taking it on trust."
The Joseph O'Brien-trained Wemightakedlongway and John and Thady Gosden's Go Go Boots round out the field of nine.
