Bookies Clean Up in England's Oaks and Derby

At Epsom in the United Kingdom, the famed Oaks and Derby meetings at Epsom Downs through up some unequivocal, yet unlikely, results. In the Cazoo Oaks, $6.50 Ballydoyle hope Snowfall (Deep Impact-Best In The World, by Galileo) put paid to an Oaks margin record held since 1983 by Sun Princess (English Princess) when donkey-licking a high class field by 16 widening lengths. The result has left Aidan O’Brien with another winner of England’s most prestigious race for 3YO fillies, and he’s already eyeing off the Irish equivalent. According to racingpost.com, O’Brien said, “We'll see how she comes out of the race before deciding on anything but the Irish Oaks would look an ideal race for her on what she did yesterday.” Bookies are taking no chances, installing Snowfall a $6 favourite for the Gr1 Arc in France later this year. In the males’ Classic, Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby was delighted after heeding owner Sheikh Mohammed’s advice to run Adayar (Frankel-Anna Salai, by Dubawi). Any concern the trainer had held that the son of champion Frankel (Galileo) would be too dour turned to joy as he proceeded to smash his Cazoo Derby rivals by 4.5-lengths, and add another immediate future bow to Darley’s ever-growing imperious stallion roster. The victory was also ironic as winning rider Adam Kirby had been bumped from fancied John Leeper (Frankel) to make way for Frankie Dettori, before a chance pick-up aboard Adayar who firmed in from 50-1 to 16-1 at the jump.