Trainer Aiden O’Brien finds positives after Rhododendron's failure in the Oaks

- A long, frustrating day for the Aidan O’Brien team on Friday did not end with another Classic success in the Investec Oaks over 2400m, but the trainer was keen to focus on the positives as Rhododendron and Alluringly filled the frame.

There were no problems in-running for odds-on favourite Rhododendron, who was unable to live with winner Enable, ridden by Frankie Dettori and trained by John Gosden, in the closing stages, going down by five lengths. Enable was the strong tip of Racing Express’ UK correspondent Geoff Lester in his column on Wednesday.

Rhododendron – and the rest of O’Brien’s team – endured severe travel difficulties when there was a problem fuelling the aircraft due to bring them over from Ireland.

Rather than arriving at Epsom in good time, the O’Brien team touched down at Farnborough airport hours later than anticipated and finally arrived on course just before 2pm, only slightly over an hour before Highland Reel’s tenacious Coronation Cup win.

O’Brien refused to use the delays as an excuse, feeling instead the trip had stretched Rhododendron’s stamina too far.

“Ryan [Moore] felt the last furlong (200m) was a long furlong on our filly,” he said. “She’s run very well and everything went lovely. Whether the trip was far enough for her, or whether she just had a busy day, there was a lot of other stuff but she ran very well.

“I’d say she’d be very happy going back down in trip.”

A further six lengths behind Rhododendron was stablemate Alluringly, who makes the form look even more solid, having finished runner-up to Enable in the Cheshire Oaks. – Racing Post.com