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Alex Hammond: 'Moon magic!

Alex Hammond looks ahead to the upcoming action.
Image: Alex Hammond looks ahead to the upcoming action.

Sky Sports Racing's Alex Hammond gives her thoughts on the Investec Oaks, Derby and Dash at Epsom in this week's racing blog.

It's a Classic weekend at Epsom - what takes your eye in Friday's Investec Oaks?

This is an easy one for me because I was at Chester when Mehdaayih won the Cheshire Oaks and I wasn't the only one seriously impressed with the runaway performance of John Gosden's filly. Gosden sent another decent filly to the Cheshire Oaks; (Enable, heard of her?!) and whilst there aren't many Enable's to the pound, the master trainer obviously holds this filly in high regard. I don't imagine it was a difficult decision to persuade her owners to stump up the £30,000 to add her to the Epsom field. The ground at Epsom is likely to ride good to firm, and although her trial was won in conditions very different to that, I'm not too worried because she has winning form on a faster surface. Her main rival looks to come from the Ballydoyle battalion in the shape of Pink Dogwood and whilst she hasn't been sent to one of the recognised Oaks trials, she comfortably won a listed race at Navan at the end of April and has smart juvenile form to bring to the table. She has been very well supported in recent days. It's Mehdaayih for me though a the prices.

The older horses have the chance to shine in the Investec Coronation Cup - what do you fancy?

This is always such a fascinating race and it's great to see these older top class horses taking each other on. There was almost an upset in this mile and a half race last year when Salouen gave Cracksman a fright and the former is back for more in a bid to win his first race at group 1 level. Unfortunately, I think Silvester Kirk's stable star may find one or two too good again. Kew Gardens is one of the leading contenders after his seasonal reappearance at Chester in the Ormonde Stakes. He may have been beaten by Morando that day, but conditions suited the winner way better than the runner up and Aidan O'Brien's St Leger winner is entitled to have come on for the run there too. I'm looking forward to seeing him back up to staying trips though and for that reason Lah Ti Dar appeals more. It could be a thrilling day for her trainer John Gosden with his fillies and whilst they all finished in a bit of a bunch in the Middleton Stakes at York, it was her first start back and she was running over an inadequate trip. That was only her 6th career start and there should be much more to come from her this season over a mile and a half plus. The supplementary entry Old Persian adds more spice to the mix for Charlie Appleby and Godolphin with the Dubai Sheema Classic winner having his first start since that impressive victory at the end of March.

A nice easy one now - do you have the winner of the Investec Dash?

I had to come back to this one after giving you my Derby thoughts before I fried my brain with this little conundrum! So, here goes, let's try and sort out the 20 sprinters ready to take on the flying 5 at Epsom. Hathiq is the ante post favourite for Irish trainer Denis Hogan having won a couple of competitive sprints in Ireland in comfortable fashion this season, he's also lightly raced and is improving. 9/2 seems pretty short in a race this competitive though, so for that reason alone I'm passing him over. Eeh Bah Gum improved leaps and bounds for Tim Easterby last summer and has been in pretty good form so far this season. He had no luck at York last time out and was staying on too late after being hampered. He never got a mention in commentary and everywhere he went the door closed. The 10/1 with Sky Bet appeals more than most. Dashas is one to consider at a bigger price with the penalty he picked up for winning at Newmarket last time out most likely buying him a berth at Epsom. Stuart Williams is a master trainer with his sprinters and getting them ready for their big day and this horse comes here in form. He looks to be progressing still and 16/1 with Sky Bet could be each way value. Now all we need it the luck of the draw.

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So onto the big one - Aidan O'Brien has a very strong hand in the Investec Derby - but where is your money going?

It would be a shock if Aidan O'Brien didn't have a strong hand, can you imagine a year without a leading contender for the Coolmore crew? I bet his fellow trainers wish that was the case. However, with 8 of the 15 colts left in, he looks set to dominate once again. I had an in depth discussion in the Sky Sports Racing studio on Tuesday with our Senior Racing Analyst, Jamie Lynch and classic winning jockey, Jason Weaver, and we all had a different opinion. Lynchy likes Broome and Shark likes Madhmoon (for the value - 12/1 with Sky Bet) and I sided with Telecaster; although as you know I've been a fan of Madhmoon myself for some time and agree he looks great value for each way punters. In last week's blog I wheeled out the old saying "Fourth in the Guineas, first in the Derby" and Madhmoon meets that criteria. The only unknown quantity we have with him is whether he will stay the trip as he has much more speed in his pedigree than many of his rivals. We all agreed that Sir Dragonet looks a worthy favourite after his runaway win in the Chester Vase, but it's a big ask on just his third racecourse start and at the prices (3/1 favourite with Sky Bet) I'm happy to take him on. As we now know, Telecaster's owners have forked out the £85,000 to add him to the field, which must grate after they could have left him in the race in early March for just over a grand! That goes to show how much he has improved and how quickly, with the Dante winner now 5/1 for the Blue Riband. We could chew the fat for hours about the race, but the top and bottom of it is, I'm backing Telecaster to win and Madhmoon each way and I hope they give me a run for my money (which is exactly what Telecaster's trainer Hughie Morrison will be hoping for too!).

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