Vintage Dettori lands Oaks
Frankie Dettori lit up Epsom on the eve of the Derby when his mount Anapurna, as willing as she is able, got up in the last 75 yards, having outstayed Irish filly Pink Dogwood to win the Investec Oaks by a cosy neck.
It was an 18th domestic Classic for Dettori, who teams up with Aidan O’brien to ride Circus Maximus in the Derby, and it was a vintage ride by the veteran, although, having swept past the field and hit the front two furlongs out, it appeared Ryan Moore and Pink Dogwood had got first run on him.
“I tried to float down the hill without using energy,” Dettori said. “Then I tried to look for a gap and, while I was still dealing with that, Ryan had gone by and I thought that’s that. I had three lengths to make up, but there were two furlongs to go and I thought I could get them. In the last 100 yards I knew I had him.”
It is rare that punters desert Dettori but, despite him being jockedup on Anapurna, an 8-1 shot, her stable companion Mehdaayih, ridden by Rab Havlin, was sent off 11-4 favourite, though she had a horrid trip before finishing seventh.
“The biggest problem was the parade,” John Gosden, the winning trainer, said. “She was first out of the paddock and when she saw the grandstand and bandstand she wanted to go back in there. She was incredibly brave. ‘Old Slippery’ [Dettori] got her through the holes. That’s Epsom though, and that’s a Classic.
“A furlong out I thought we’d be a valiant second or third, but it was a proper test of two good fillies.”
It was also the start of what could be a remarkable weekend for owner-breeders Mark Weinfeld and his sister Helena, whose Meon Valley Stud not only produced Anapurna (she is out of Dash To The Top and named after the area in which the base camp for Everest is situated), but the Derby colt Telecaster.
“It takes the pressure off, no doubt,” said Weinfeld, who more than paid for Telecaster’s £85,000 supplementary entry with yesterday’s prize money. “I’ll sleep well tonight.”
For Moore, it was like a bad case of deja vu from the Coronation Cup an hour earlier.
Just when it looked like he had that sewn up on Kew Gardens, he was cut down in the final 100 yards by Defoe and Andrea Atzeni on a hot streak. It was a second win in the race for Roger Varian after Postponed in 2016.
Much like Anapurna, Defoe, an 11-1 shot, had not appeared to be going anywhere when Kew Gardens swept to the front down the outside but, when a gap opened up, he shot through it and ultimately showed the better turn of foot.