For both Charlie Appleby and William Buick, membership of one of Flat racing’s most exclusive clubs will be an added incentive when Desert Flower, the 1,000 Guineas winner and favourite, canters to post before the Oaks at Epsom on Friday afternoon.
Since the end of the second world war, only eight jockeys and 11 trainers have managed to get their names on the roll of honour for all five English Classics, and both lists are a roll call of racing legends. Vincent O’Brien, Sir Henry Cecil and Aidan O’Brien are among the trainers to have completed the full set, while an even shorter list of riders includes Lester Piggott, Steve Cauthen and Pat Eddery, and, since the turn of the century, only Frankie Dettori and Ryan Moore.
And while it is 15 years since Buick’s first Classic victory, aboard Arctic Cosmos in the 2010 St Leger, Appleby could be about to complete the set in only eight. Masar,in the 2017 Derby,was the trainer’s first Classic winner, Hurricane Lanetook the St Leger in 2021and the Guineas victories of Notable Speech, in 2024, and Desert Flower,at Newmarket last month,have now left him with only an Oaks winner to find.
The final step of a rare sporting journey is often the most difficult to complete, however, and even Piggott, the greatest Classic jockey of them all, was forced to wait until 1970 to win the 1,000 Guineas, 16 years after his first Derby victory in 1954.
Desert Flower’s eight opponents on Friday will include three runners trained by the Aidan O’Brien stable that won recognised Oaks trials last time out, and Saeed bin Suroor’s lightly raced Elwateen, a supplementary entry after a fine run into fourth behind Desert Flower in the 1,000 Guineas. Suroor’s string has dwindled in recent seasons as Appleby has taken over as Godolphin’s main trainer in Newmarket, but he is already a member of the “All Five Classics” club. It would be quite the twist if Elwateen was the filly to leave Appleby on the doorstep.
The question mark around Desert Flower’s chance is whether her stamina will extend to 12 furlongs and even her jockey will not know for certain until the business end of Friday’s race.
“I do think she’s very versatile,” Buick said on Thursday. “Each time I’ve ridden her she has adapted to the race scenario. We could have kept her at a mile, it was put across the table as a plan, but we all felt she would get further. Whether that is a mile-and-a-quarter or a mile-and-a-half, we will see on Friday.”
What does seem certain is that Desert Flower’s rivals will make it a real test, and while she was a convincing winner of the Guineas her sire and dam were effective at short of 10 furlongs.
With that in mind, she is very hard to back at around 7-4 and Ryan Moore’s decision to rideMinnie Hauk(4.00), the Cheshire Oaks winner, could be significant. On ratings she is third-best in O’Brien’s trio of runners but she was a very comfortable winner on the Roodee with the promise of improvement over an extra furlong, and she is worth an interest at around 9-2 to give O’Brien an 11th Oaks success.
Epsom 1.30 Saqqara Sands’sstable remains in fine form and she has the most scope for progress in this field.
Epsom 2.05Eve Johnson Houghton won this race two years ago with Bobsleigh andHavana Hurricanearrives with a similar profile.
Epsom 2.40Calandagan’sfirst Group One win is long overdue and Francis-Henri Graffard’s gelding has several pounds in hand here.
Epsom 3.15Have Secrethas hit a rich vein of form this season and his mark is unchanged after another solid run last time.
Epsom 4.35David O’Meara’sMirskycan follow up from his win at Thirsk last time off a 2lb higher mark.