The Australian racing season concludes for the top-line fillies with the running of today’s Queensland Oaks. Join us from 3.40 pm AEST for full commentary and live blog to the Group 1.
Run over 2400m at the end of the Australian racing season, the fillies have finally evolved into their bodies. They walk in as fillies and pass the post as mares.
This race is often void of Australia’s best due to how late in the season it is run but this year is slightly different. The field is headlined by Australia’s most accomplished staying filly, Dear Demi.
Winner of the VRC Oaks in the spring, Dear Demi has not lost a beat all autumn despite the VRC Oaks being somewhat of a death sentence in past years.
The daughter of Dehere has bucked the trend and maintained her form by retaining the turn of foot which made her famous.
The traditional lead up to the Queensland Oaks is The Roses and in that race, Dear Demi produced a last-to-first effort to just get up on the line.
Trainer Clarry Conners has taken a very interesting approach to this race by giving the filly a run last week in the Group 3 Grand Prix against the Derby-bound colts.
She drew awkwardly in the Grand Prix and was shuffled to the tail of the field but struggled to make significant ground to ultimately finished sixth.
The run was not as good as her run in The Roses which suggests that it may have been a mistake to give her an extra start.
Conners however is confident the mare runs well on a short break and Dear Demi did win the VRC Oaks after racing five days prior in the Wakeful on Derby Day, where she finished an unlucky fourth against the fillies.
Dear Demi has had the longest season among fillies having contested just about every race there was during the spring and the autumn.
She’s been up for such a long time and we saw in the Grand Prix that she may be beginning to feel the wear and tear of a long season.
The runner up from The Roses was Gondokoro who narrowly missed by a nose. Jockey Rhys McLeod lodged an appeal after the race alleging interference at the 800m mark but it was dismissed.
With a light autumn campaign, this race has always been the target for the Zabeel filly and she is absolutely flying at the minute.
Although the protest was dismissed because it was unclear whether Dear Demi caused the interference in question, McLeod had a decent claim considering how small the final margin was.
Gondokoro is bred to stay and it would be no surprise if she started favourite.
Express Power has had an excellent season but she too has been up for quite a long time. She ran on nicely in The Roses to finish three and a half lengths behind Dear Demi.
Kris Lees will be pushing Express Power to her extreme limit because very few Snitzel fillies can run this sort of distance. The bookies consider her a genuine chance but I think there’s too much going against her in this race.
Beyond these three fillies, the remainder of the field are in double figure odds which means there will be some value to be found in placegetters.
Amongst the outsiders, Peter Moody has an excellent opportunity to claim a Group 1 in his home state when he saddles up Miss Zenalla.
The Zabeel filly will be having just her third start this preparation in only the sixth start of her career. She is taking a crazy leap in class from a benchmark 68 to a Group 1.
She has never raced against anyone in this field but in that benchmark 68, she decimated her opposition to win in a canter.
Miss Zenalla an interesting runner based on her lack of form at this class but the bookies are taking no chances with her so they may know something we don’t.
Magic In Motion chased the entire straight in The Roses when she finished fourth behind Dear Demi and Gondokoro.
This race has always been her target and she did well enough in her last start to indicate the possibility of an opportunistic victory should the favourites be off their game.
She’ll have a lot to do from the back because she’s drawn out in the car park but Magic In Motion should get a nice drag into the race because plenty of quality runners are expected to race worse than midfield as well.
By star sire of stayers High Chapparal, Vaquera is the filly to be on if heavy rain hits Eagle Farm. She finished third in The Roses between and had no problem running out the 2000m journey. A step up in distance should actually suit her.
It’s extremely difficult to look past the favourites here. Dear Demi will have the blinkers re-applied in an attempt to mentally switch her on after a disappointing run in The Roses.
But there could be a down-side to the application of blinkers and that is they could contribute to any fatigue at the end of what has been a long preparation.
Tips
1. Gondokoro
2. Vaquera
3. Dear Demi
4. Magic In Motion
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