Legacy Link primed to upset Ballydoyle filly Amelia Earhart at Epsom Oaks
LAST LEG: Legacy Link, right, runs to victory at York in May. Picture: Healy Racing
Legacy Link can hand Colin Keane a first British Classic success by getting the better of Ballydoyle filly Amelia Earhart in the Betfred Oaks at Epsom on Friday.
A dual winner of the Irish 2,000 Guineas, six-time Irish champion jockey Keane also has an Irish Derby and an Irish Oaks on his CV and Legacy Link could be the first leg of a potential British Classic double given Item is a leading player in Saturday’s Betfred Derby.
Trained by John and Thady Gosden for Juddmonte, Legacy Link ended her juvenile campaign by finishing fourth to subsequent Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Precise in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket last October.
The Dubawi filly returned to action in the Musidora Stakes at York last month where she showed a good attitude to get the job done. That was over an extended 10 furlongs but her finishing effort suggested she may be even better over a mile and a half.
If that proves the case, she should be a tough nut to crack for a stable that has won this race four times in the last 12 years.
Amelia Earhart will likely be sent off favourite for Ballydoyle but there are a few reasons to think she might be vulnerable.
For starters, Love and Minding are the only winning favourites in the last 10 renewals of this race with some very talented fillies coming unstuck in that timeframe.
Secondly, Amelia Earhart has an unusual profile for a Classic favourite given the daughter of Camelot needed five races to shed her maiden as a juvenile, finally scoring at Leopardstown on her final start of the season.
She was visually impressive when winning at Chester but the niggling concern about that triumph is that she was fitted with both a hood and blinkers, the first aid to slow her down and the second to encourage her to go faster.
She’s undeniably talented but she’s equally undeniably quirky and that might prove her undoing here.
Amelia Earhart is one of three Ballydoyle contenders with Sugar Island likely to be assigned pace-making duties though her form and odds suggest she’s unlikely to still be in front when it matters most.
Stablemate Cameo, who impressed when winning her trial at Lingfield, has stronger claims and she and Thundering On, trained by Joseph O’Brien, may end up having their own personal battle for third.
Should that transpire, narrow preference is for Thundering On who looked a filly going places when powering clear of her rivals in the Group 3 Salsabil Stakes at Navan in April.
