Irish Oaks 2022

Since filming for Racing Weekly on Monday, the trio were proved right in predicting a “small-ish” field for the Irish Oaks, meaning there is possibly more value in other races at the meet. 

As part of the first look, Holding explained his approach to punting on races at the Curragh: “I tend to look at the Curragh and treat it as I would any meets over here,” he said. “The time figures we've accumulated are going to come into their own and I'm a particular fan of looking at draw biases.

“When the ground is decent, or as it's likely to be on the fast side at the weekend, they tend to go down the middle. The stalls are situated down the middle whereas they used to be down the stand side, but they're trying to negate that bias by putting it in the middle.”

Tuesday pulled from Emily Upjohn Oaks rematch

Together with Persad and Turner, Holding debated the strength of Emily Upjohn’s strong favouritism (1/2) for the race against likely rivals including Tuesday – before the Epsom Oaks winner was NOT declared earlier today in what will be an eight-runner field.

“Holding said: It's hard to get away from Emily Upjohn even though I'm not a massive odds on punter. Unless I think a 4/6 shot is going to go off at 1/3 I wouldn't be advocating it. 

“She was hugely unlucky in the Oaks. The ruckus between John Gosden and Frankie Dettori was started by Emily Upjohn. She completely missed the break; she wasn’t in the position connections would have wanted and did remarkably well in the circumstances to get anywhere near Tuesday.”

“The wide open galloping spaces at the Curragh should suit her more and she's looked pretty much the best in her division from the start of the season up to this point. Tuesday was disappointing against Westover in the Irish Derby but I don't think Ryan was as proactive as you would have liked to see him. It's hard to see her, even on home soil, coping with Emily Upjohn if she breaks freely.”

Where is the Each-Way value?

So, with Tuesday not declared, who is the likeliest to challenge to Emily Upjohn? Turner suggested the value is with Jessica Harrington trained Magical Lagoon, although the non-declaration of Tuesday has seen the filly come in from 6/1 ante-post on Monday to a best price 4/1 at the time of writing. 

“I could see the case for backing someone like Magical Lagoon each way,” said Turner. “She is a Curragh winner, she showed good battling qualities to win at Royal Ascot in the Ribblesdale. The daughter of Galileo handles fast ground well and Jessie's horses are in great form - she had five on the bounce a week or so ago and eight in the last fortnight.”

Holding agreed, adding: “She (Harrington) is very much a streak trainer. When she hits form, she can have a massive run for about two or three weeks.”