Rhododendron ready to bloom in Oaks at Epsom

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Jonathan Hunn1 June 2017

Aidan O’Brien can stay on course for a clean sweep of this year’s British Classics by winning the Investec Oaks at Epsom with Rhododendron.

O’Brien has already scooped the 2,000 Guineas and 1,000 Guineas this season - courtesy of Churchill and Winter - and Rhododendron can keep the ball rolling.

If she or stablemates Alluringly and Pocketfullofdreams land the £500,000 feature, then all eyes will be on the trainer’s possible seven runners in Saturday’s Investec Derby.

The Derby is so wide open this year that bookmakers are betting 9-2 the field. It is a different story in the Oaks because Rhododendron looks the outstanding candidate and she is trading at around evens to beat her nine rivals.

The daughter of Galileo was last season’s leading two-year-old filly and many expected her to land last month’s 1,000 Guineas. However, Ryan Moore’s mount ran out of racing room about two furlongs out and Winter had already flown by the time they got free.

Whether Rhododendron would have won with a clear run is debatable but she definitely would have given the winner more to think about. Regardless, the form looks rock solid after Winter’s runaway victory in the Irish 1,000 Guineas last Sunday.

The Oaks presents a very different test, not least because it is over half a mile further, but Rhododendron was staying on strongly at the end of the Guineas.

Biggest dangers look the John Gosden-trained pair of Coronet and Enable. The former shaped well on her return behind Sobetsu in France and can turn the tables on that rival, while the latter impressed with her nimbleness when winning the Cheshire Oaks.

O’Brien can also land the other Group One race on tomorrow’s card, the Investec Coronation Cup, with Idaho.

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