Can Aidan O'Brien win the race for a fourth year in a row, or will something topple his short-price favourite?
Enda McElhinney has a selection and next best in The Oaks alongside some other fancies on day one at Epsom.
4.30 – The Oaks
Savethelastdance is the short-price favourite for Classic glory on foot of a 22-length demolition job in last month's Cheshire Oaks at Chester for Ryan Moore and Aidan O'Brien. The Ballydoyle supremo is bidding to win this race for a fourth successive year and clearly this daughter of Galileo warrants plenty of respect.
That rout came on testing ground however and it might not have been the deepest race either, so she is taken on at Epsom.
Sous Sister won the Musidora at York in commanding fashion and will bid to give Frankie Dettori the perfect Oaks farewell but it's the other John & Thady Gosden contender, RUNNING LION, that is fancied.
She has won four times since her debut fourth last summer at Newmarket, progressing through the ranks on the all-weather before really impressing in the Pretty Polly at Newmarket in early May.
That run certainly hinted she can excel at this longer trip and her yard bids for a fourth Oaks win since 2014. Jockey Oisin Murphy had a special relationship with her sire, Roaring Lion, and having partnered this filly in both wins this season, can help propel her to Classic success at Epsom.
Lingfield's Oaks Trial last month went the way of Eternal Hope for Charlie Appleby and William Buick and she's another of note. She was forced wide off the home bend but mastered Be Happy with something to spare and was really powering away at the winning line. She's certainly one of the interesting each-way contenders for this race, which marks her first turf start.
SELECTION: RUNNING LION @ 11/2
NEXT BEST: ETERNAL HOPE @ 11/1
3.10 Coronation Cup
Ahead of the fillies' Classic there is Group 1 action via the Coronation Cup over the same Epsom course and distance and a select five-runner field has been assembled.
They include last year's Oaks second Emily Upjohn and the Derby third Westover as well as the 2021 Irish Derby/St Leger winner Hurricane Lane and Tunnes, a Group 1 winner in Germany.
Frankie Dettori will be keen to avoid the sort of slow start that hindered Emily Upjohn here last June and there's no doubting she could be primed to go well fresh but POINT LONSDALE is the pick.
A smart 2YO in 2021, the Australia colt wasn't spotted last year after running below expectations in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on his comeback.
Aidan O'Brien has patiently got him back on track and he's won Group races at the Curragh and Chester this season having moved up in trip to a mile-and-a-quarter. They came with give underfoot but he is effective on a faster surface and is unexposed at this trip. He could have more to come now under Ryan Moore.
SELECTION: POINT LONSDALE @ 4/1
NEXT BEST: EMILY UPJOHN @ 11/4
5.10 - Surrey Stakes
Listed action over 7f follows the big race and this looks a really decent chance for HOLGUIN to end a sequence of excellent efforts in defeat.
Andrew Balding's colt ended last season with a good second behind Cold Case in the Two-Year-Old Trophy at Redcar and kicked off this campaign with silver medals at Newmarket and Haydock over this increased trip.
His Spring Trophy Stakes second on Merseyside last time saw him splitting Angel Bleu and Al Mubhir and he now returns to racing against his 3YO peers. At Newmarket in April he had Hi Royal behind in fourth with that rival second and third since in the English/Irish Guineas and with Oisin Murphy now taking over, this looks a good spot for him to get his head in front.
He's A Monster has won 3-3 on the all-weather and can be forgiven for his sub-par turf showing on soft ground in the Goffs Million at the Curragh in September. He's won a couple of races this spring for Archie Watson and, now gelded, could be a danger to all if allowed to dominate in front back on the grass.
NEXT BEST: HE'S A MONSTER @ 8/1
