Confirmed runners and riders for the 2024 Betfred Oaks at Epsom on Friday

Aidan O'Brien will saddle two leading hopes in Ylang Ylang and Rubies Are Red in this year's Betfred Oaks (4.30) after the final field was revealed for the Epsom Classic on Wednesday morning.

The duo are among a field of 12 for the Oaks as O'Brien bids to win it for the fourth time in the last five runnings. Ylang Ylang is the favourite, having finished a close fifth in the 1,000 Guineas on her comeback this month, while Rubies Are Red was an eyecatching second in the Lingfield Oaks Trial.

Ireland is set to have a strong hand with Dermot Weld declaring Ezeliya, who won a Group 3 on her latest outing. She attempts to give Weld his second Oaks success after landing the race back in 1981 with Blue Wind.

Ralph Beckett will be represented by a four-strong team in his quest for another Oaks win, with Forest Fairy heading them following her fine win in the Cheshire Oaks last time.

She bids to emulate the great Enable in gaining Epsom glory after winning at Chester and is set to be ridden once again by Rossa Ryan. You Got To Me, who beat Rubies Are Red in the Lingfield Oaks Trial, will be partnered by Hector Crouch, while James Doyle has come in for the ride on the King and Queen's runner Treasure and Silvestre de Sousa is declared on outsider Seaward.

Secret Satire bids to continue the fine recent record of Musidora Stakes winners in the Oaks as Andrew Balding seeks a second Oaks success, 21 years after Casual Look provided the big breakthrough in his training career.

The most notable absentee at Thursday's declarations stage was Opera Singer, who finished third in the Irish 1,000 Guineas last weekend.

Four Pricewise winners last weekend!

Ace tipster Tom Segal was on a hot run of form last weekend as he nailed 9-2 and 3-1 winners on Saturday before correctly advising the Group 1 double at the Curragh on Sunday thanks to 11-4 Fallen Angel in the Irish 1,000 Guineas and White Birch at 15-8 in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

He will be back in the hotseat for the Betfred Oaks and Derby this weekend. Don't miss his expert advice by signing up to Racing Post Members' Club – and use code MEMBERS24 to get 50% off your first three months!

Emily Upjohn heads Coronation Cup stars

Also on the card, Emily Upjohn will bid to join an illustrious roll of honour in winning another Coronation Cup (3.10) and faces four rivals in the Group 1.

The five-year-old was an impressive winner of the race last year under Frankie Dettori but will be partnered this time by Kieran Shoemark. She finished fifth on her comeback this year in the Dubai Sheema Classic in March.

Speaking to the British Champions Series, her joint-trainer John Gosden said: "She worked very nicely last week and I'm pleased with her. It was a very good run earlier in the year in the Sheema Classic, where they played with the pace. I liked the way she finished her race off and she wasn't beaten far.

"It's not easy with fillies in training them in the winter, and she'd been off since the previous July, so she needed to get back on track. She ran a lovely race and she's done well physically since then. This was always the next step for her and she handles Epsom well. She was a touch unlucky in the Oaks, but that's life."

Luxembourg is Aidan O'Brien's sole representative after the likes of St Leger winner Continuous and Auguste Rodin were not declared, while last year's Grand Prix de Paris victor Feed The Flame bids to end a ten-year wait for another French victory in the race.

Hamish and classy filly Time Lock complete the field of five, with Tattersalls Gold Cup winner White Birch also among the absentees at the declarations stage.

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Betfred Oaks runners and riders

• Caught U Looking (drawn in stall 1) Colin Keane
• Dance Sequence (2) William Buick
• Ezeliya (5) Chris Hayes
• Forest Fairy (4) Rossa Ryan
• Making Dreams (10) Clifford Lee
• Rubies Are Red (6) Wayne Lordan
• Seaward (9) Silvestre de Sousa
• Secret Satire (3) Oisin Murphy
• Treasure (11) James Doyle
• War Chimes (7) Tom Marquand
• Ylang Ylang (12) Ryan Moore
• You Got To Me (8) Hector Crouch

Coral: 2 Ylang Ylang, 7-2 Rubies Are Red, 4 Ezeliya, 7 Forest Fairy, 10 You Got To Me, 12 Secret Satire, 16 Treasure, 25 Dance Sequence, 50 Making Dreams, 66 Caught U Looking, Seaward, 100 War Chimes

Betfred Oaks tip and 1-2-3 prediction

1. Ylang Ylang
2. You Got To Me
3. Ezelyia

Ylang Ylang was always thought to be a mile-and-a-half performer in the making and her Group 1 victory last term and 1,000 Guineas fifth strongly smack of that. She is by Frankel and out of the Shamardal mare Shambolic, a novice winner over a mile and stakes-placed over a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half. She is a half-sister to the prolific Hong Kong Group1winner Viva Pataca and to another top-level middle-distance performer in Laughing, who struck in the Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes. It is a pedigree that suggests a mile and a half should pose no issues, while Frankel as a source of top-class Classic talent is undisputed.

You Got To Me will lead Ralph Beckett's charge alongside Cheshire Oaks winner Forest Fairy, a daughter of Ballylinch Stud's second-season sire Waldgeist. You Got To Me impressed on her sole start at two in a September Kempton maiden and was not disgraced behind Regal Jubilee when upped to Listed grade that November.

Another who cannot be overlooked is Ezeliya, the Aga Khan's exciting daughter of Dubawi and Teofilo's Group 2 scorer and Irish Oaks-placed Eziyra. The Dermot Weld trainee is another bred for 1m4f and potentially further.
Kitty Trice, bloodstock expert

Ylang Ylang16:30 Epsom

View Racecard

Jky: Ryan Moore Tnr: A P O'Brien

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