Longshot Qualify wins Investec Oaks by a nose

That Aidan O’Brien won the Investec Oaks on Friday at Epsom came as no surprise. O’Brien had won the race four times previously and had three entrants this year. But that he won with the filly Qualify? Now, that was a surprise.

Qualify was 70-1 in North American betting on the race. She had finished last of 13 in the English 1000 Guineas and 10th of 18 in the Irish 1000 Guineas, her two most recent races. She was ridden Friday by Colm O’Donoghue, a backup rider for O’Brien’s operation, and was considered his third-string runner in the race behind Together Forever and Diamondsandrubies.

Nonetheless, that was Qualify rallying through the three-furlong Epsom home straight and coming up the inside to nip the favored Legatissimo by a nose on the wire.

Legatissimo, somewhat unruly prerace, ran well in defeat, nearly pulling an English classics double after taking the English 1000 Guineas in her most recent start. Locked in at the fence for much of the trip, she came between rivals under Ryan Moore and looked like a winner a furlong out, but Qualify, switched from the outside to a spot nearer the inside fence, found her best stride in the last 100 yards, and got there in time.

Lady of Dubai was second and Diamondsandrubies third in a slow-paced race that, for several runners, turned into bumper cars at the furlong grounds. Together Forever lurched inward in deep stretch, troubling several horses to her inside, with Diamondsandrubies taking the worst of it.

By Australian sire Fastnet Rock, Qualify won for the third time in 12 races while capturing her first Group 1. Last fall at Santa Anita, she finished eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

The winning time for about 1 1/2 miles on good turf was a relatively slow 2:37.41, which speaks in part to the quality of the field but probably owed at least as much to the dawdling tempo at which the Oaks unfolded.