Frankie Dettori tends to hog the media limelight when it comes to the Epsom Classics, but in Friday’s Cazoo Oaks he will face stiff competition in that department from Hollie Doyle when the pair partner stable-mates Emily Upjohn and Nashwa respectively.
A field of 11 are due to assemble for the Oaks, which forms part of the QIPCO British Champions Series, and the unbeaten Emily Upjohn has been clear favourite since impressing in last month’s Musidora Stakes at York.
Hollie Doyle – appropriate goal on Ladies Day!
Dettori won a sixth Oaks by a record 16 lengths on Snowfall 12 months ago, and Emily Upjohn has been compared favourably by joint trainer John Gosden with the stable’s 2014 Oaks winner Taghrooda. However, Nashwa has been equally impressive in scoring at Haydock and Newbury and offers 25-year-old Doyle a major opportunity of becoming the first woman rider to win a British Classic.
While Rachael Blackmore has been regularly breaking new ground for women at the highest level over jumps, Doyle broke her own record for the number of winners by a woman in a calendar year last year. Like Blackmore, she rides every day on equal terms with the men, including here against husband Tom Marquand, who rides Tranquil Lady, but the significance of a first Classic win for a female rider, should it happen on Nashwa, is certainly not lost on her.
She said: “It would be incredible. It would be a dream come true for me personally, and it would hopefully inspire other women to come into the sport. I really appreciate how important that is, but because I compete with men on level terms on a day-to-day basis it’s only when I pop my head out of my little racing bubble that I appreciate that what I’m doing is quite unique. I’m so engaged within my industry that I feel like one of the lads almost – as bad as it sounds.
“Like Rachael Blackmore winning the Grand National, winning a British Classic is something I dream of doing over the next 10 years or so. If I could do it on Friday it would be great. It will be another step in my career, and obviously I think about it quite a lot and try to envisage it happening. I’m always looking to progress in my career and it would be another box ticked, but until it happens you can’t believe it will, really.”
Doyle is retained by Nashwa’s owner-breeder Imad Alsagar, who owned the 2007 Derby winner Authorized in partnership with his cousin Saleh Al Homaizi, and she has been sweet on the Frankel filly since last year’s debut, even though she finished only third that day.
She said: “I thought she was a bit special at Newmarket, so I wasn’t that surprised with what she did at Haydock. The ground was quick and being out of a Pivotal mare I was a bit concerned, but thankfully the Frankel in her shone through and she was fine on it. Once I got cover she dropped the bridle completely, and when I pushed the button she was away. She was electric and hit the line really hard.
“We stepped her up to ten furlongs at Newbury on good ground, which I thought would probably suit her a bit better, and though I was drawn bad I thought if I dropped her out she’d win anyway if she was as good as I thought she was. She settled beautifully and was very responsive. Whereas at Haydock she took a while to get into top gear, the response was instant this time. We made up a lot of ground in a short space of time, and I could have waited another furlong.”
She added: “I think she holds a few more of the sire’s genes than the mare’s, which isn’t a bad thing. She has speed and class and gears, like Frankel, but she relaxes and she should stay. You don’t know until they try it if they will handle Epsom, but she’s a great mover and she hasn’t given me any feeling that she won’t. She’s a dream ride, with a lovely mind and a great attitude. She has everything you want in a racehorse.”
Marquand gained bragging rights over his wife by winning a first Classic in the 2020 St Leger on Galileo Chrome for Joseph O’Brien, and it’s with O’Brien he teams up again on live each-way chance Tranquil Lady, who won a Naas Group 3 last time.
Asked about on-course rivalry between the pair, Doyle shrugged it off and said: “Tom having already had a Classic winner makes no difference as I don’t compare myself to him really. We are in very different situations and we aren’t usually competing for the same rides.
“Tom might be my husband but it’s very competitive and we don’t give each other an inch. We are so used to it that it’s not really a thing any more.”
