Pink Dogwood has the goods for English Oaks

For a filly without a group stakes win in her brief career, Pink Dogwood is the focus of high expectations in Friday’s Group 1 English Oaks at Epsom Downs.

Pink Dogwood’s race record, pedigree, and support team suggest her role of favorite is deserved. Trained by Aidan O’Brien, who has won the English Oaks seven times, Pink Dogwood won her 2019 debut in the minor Salsabil Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Navan by a calculated half-length under jockey Ryan Moore, who has the mount on Friday.

Pink Dogwood, who is by 2012 English Derby winner Camelot, is a full-brother to Latrobe, the winner of the 2018 Irish Derby.

The $663,277 English Oaks, run at 1 1/2 miles, will be the second start in a Group 1 for Pink Dogwood, who races for the Coolmore syndicate. Last October, Pink Dogwood finished fifth as the 3-1 second choice in the Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp, France’s top race for 2-year-old fillies.

The English Oaks drew a field of 14, with four trained by O’Brien. The other three fillies from his stable – Delphinia, Fleeting, and Peach Tree - are outsiders.

The English Oaks will be the group stakes debut for two well-regarded Frankel fillies trained by John Gosden – Mehdaayih and Anapurna, the winners of listed stakes in recent weeks.

Mehdaayih is unbeaten in three starts this year, including the Cheshire Oaks at 1 7/16 miles at Chester Racecourse on May 8 in the longest start of her career. Anapurna rates as a contender having won the Oaks Trial Fillies’ Stakes at 1 7/16 miles at Lingfield on May 11.

Earlier on the Epsom program, the O’Brien-trained Kew Gardens will have his second start of 2019 in the Group 1 Coronation Cup for older horses at 1 1/2 miles.

The winner of the Group 1 English St. Leger Stakes last September, Kew Gardens was second at 4-5 in the Group 3 Ormonde Stakes at 1 9/16 miles at Chester on May 9, closing from the back of a field of six to finish a neck behind Morando, who is rated as an outsider in a field of 10 for the $563,231 Coronation Cup.

The Coronation Cup will be the first start in England since September for Old Persian, who was fifth in the St. Leger. Old Persian had an outstanding March at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, winning two races at 1 1/2 miles as the favorite – the Group 1, $6 million Sheema Classic on March 30 against an international field, as well as its prep, the Group 2 Dubai City of Gold Stakes on March 9.