Will Wild Illusion turn Appleby and Buick's Oaks dream into reality?

It won't be Magical, or end Happily ever after, but there is surely a fairytale hidden away somewhere in the most mythical site in Surrey just begging to be brought to life in the Investec Oaks.

Punters have been trying to pen that fairytale for months now but all the main characters keep escaping from the storyline. Seven of the top eight in Paddy Power's market on the first day of April are missing from the final chapter.

Happily (6-1), September (8-1), Laurens (16-1), Magic Lily (16-1), Clemmie (20-1), Contingent (20-1) and Magical (25-1) are all absent. Even Lar Ti Dar, made favourite following her Pretty Polly win in early May, has failed to make her way safely to Surrey. Ante-post punting has never known such anguish.

Not just an Illusion, she's real

Wild Illusion is real, though, and she's made it. She was 16-1 in April, then promoted to favourite last Friday, and has hardened over the last seven days as those around her on betting boards began falling by the wayside.

Where is the fairytale there you might ask? Well, jockey William Buick has never won an Oaks and trainer Charlie Appleby has never won a Classic. It would be a big box ticked in what has been a fine campaign so far.

Godolphin supremo Sheikh Mohammed, meanwhile, is searching for his seventh success in the Oaks, but his first since Kazzia carried the royal blue colours to glory 16 years ago.

She won the 1,000 Guineas on her way to Epsom. Wild Illusion had to settle for fourth behind Billesdon Brook at Newmarket but she has been crying out for further on a softer surface and gets both here. Her winning would make sense of an Oaks that has made little sense to date.

Aidan O'Brien has been deprived of running his first, second, third, fourth and fifth strings for one reason or another, so he is lucky that his sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 11th strings are so talented.

Ryan Moore has been pulling rabbits out of hats his whole life so it is fitting to see him on Magic Wand, a Cheshire Oaks winner on only her third start.

The runner-up there, Forever Together, has just had the three outings too, and don't forget it took her sister Together Forever four attempts to get her head in front. These daughters of Galileo and Green Room get better with experience.

Is the Ballydoyle battalion a little short on ammunition?

For once, however, the Ballydoyle battalion is looking a little short on ammunition.

Flattering – a first ride back at Epsom for Padraig Beggy since his Derby victory last year – is looking flattered by her ten-length maiden win at Cork, I Can Fly couldn't find her wings in the Guineas at Newmarket and Bye Bye Baby has had her limitations exposed on more than one occasion. Perhaps a fourth Oaks in seven years is beyond the reach of even the brilliant O'Brien.

Clive Cox could write a heart-warming story with Perfect Clarity. The 53-year-old is one of the nice guys of the game and has already proved he can train sprinters through the likes of Harry Angel, Profitable and Lethal Force.

Perfectly relaxed: Perfect Clarity in her box after her Epsom workoutCredit: Edward Whitaker

He has also got the best out of top-class colts courtesy of My Dream Boat, the 2016 Prince of Wales's Stakes winner. So now it's time to see what he's like at getting fillies to fire on the biggest stage of all as the Lingfield Oaks trial winner tries to maintain her unbeaten record. Now that would add another string to his bow.

The Musidora first and third complete the field. Give And Take won that, with Ejtyah two and a half lengths behind in third. It was not the best Musidora ever run, we were told. Unfortunately we are due to find out if that was indeed the case only at around 4.35pm.

Predicting the final Oaks field has been tremendously tricky, predicting the Oaks outcome even tougher.

Cracksman: Prix Ganay winner would appear to face straightforward task in the Coronation Cup

The Coronation Cup could not come at a better time. Just when punters need a confidence booster ahead of the most open Oaks in recent memory, up pops Cracksman.

Frankel's most prized offspring so far has seen his rating soar to 130 following four quality displays at York, Chantilly, Ascot and Longchamp since his narrow defeat to Capri in last year's Irish Derby.

He sits at the summit of the Arc market and it will take something unCracksmanlike to take him away from there, albeit Hawkbill and Idaho will have their supporters against the long odds-on favourite.

There will be fairytales brought to life over the next two days across the Epsom Downs. The pen is already writing the chapter on the Coronation Cup you sense, but who knows what it will come up with in the Oaks.

Your guess is as good as mine.

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