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Rainbow View
Gold standard: Rainbow View flopped in the 1,000 Guineas but can land the Oaks at Epsom

Rainbow View has still got the class to shine through

Simon Milham
4 Jun 2009


There was no pot of gold for her backers at the end of the 1,000 Guineas, which left plenty finding flaws in Rainbow View.

But the John Gosden-trained filly (4.05) should be relied upon to make her critics think again in the Investec Oaks at Epsom tomorrow.

The biggest concern is whether she will stay the mile-and-a-half trip. Some detractors also wonder whether she has trained on.

Yet at Newmarket, she was clearly not herself. This highly-strung filly was unbeaten as a juvenile, recording four victories and signing off in September with an impressive display in the Fillies' Mile at Ascot.

Prior to each run, she threatened to boil over in the preliminaries and sweated profusely. But on her three-year-old debut - when odds-on favourite for the 1,000 Guineas - she showed none of her usual edginess.

Gosden had intimated that the day she didn't get worked up was the day he'd worry and he was proved right.Conditions also conspired against her. The ground was lightning fast on the Rowley Mile and her jockey, Jimmy Fortune, said she wouldn't let herself down on it.

Epsom always produce a near-perfect racing surface, so there should be no excuses on that score. As for staying the trip, Gosden says he is in the dark. "On pedigree she will get a mile and a quarter but I don't know about the other two furlongs."

After she had been given a gentle canter around Epsom last week, Gosden noted how relaxed she was and said: "She appears to be growing up - finally."

If big-race jockey Fortune can get her to relax, her class could be enough to see her through.

Sariska heads the betting at around 5-2 and the vibes have been nothing but positive from the Michael Bell stable since her emphatic win the Musidora at York.

She stayed on strongly over 10 furlongs that day but she is by Pivotal, whose progeny do like to get their toe in, so any rain would help her chance. The time of that race was nothing special, however.

It is wonderful to see Henry Cecil back at the top of his game. The master trainer seeks his ninth Oaks and relies upon Midday, whose odds have contracted in recent days.

She has already raced at Epsom, having chased home Debussy in the Derby Trial and followed that up with a comfortable victory in the Lingfield Oaks Trial.

Though there were doubts over her stamina going into the race, she looked better the further she went and is the main danger.

Oh Goodness Me, daughter of Derby winner Galileo, has raced predominately on an easier surface. Third in the heavy-ground Irish 1,000 Guineas on her last start, there is plenty in her pedigree to suggest she will handle a faster surface and Jim Bolger's filly may be good enough to make the frame at a general 16-1.

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