Lingfield Oaks Trial: Classic supplement not ruled out for 'fine filly' Eternal Hope after she advertises Epsom claims

Eternal Hope was cut to 16-1 with Coral for the Betfred Oaks following a strong-staying trial success at Lingfield and the performance impressed team Godolphin enough to consider supplementing her for the Classic for a fee of £30,000.

Alex Merriam, assistant trainer to Charlie Appleby, said the five-figure gamble would not be ruled out after the daughter of Teofilo showed a smart turn of foot to hold off the Aidan O’Brien-trained Be Happy in the Fitzdares Oaks Trial.

Eternal Hope had travelled smartly from a prominent position under William Buick and appeared to handle the mile-and-a-half well to record her second success by a length-and-three-quarters having previously won a Chelmsford maiden in February. 

Connections will have until May 27 to decide whether to head to Epsom while Eternal Hope also has an entry in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot. The Godolphin filly has yet to run on grass and the opportunity here was missed as races were moved to the all-weather surface with the turf track waterlogged.

Merriam said: “We were pleased with that, she’s picked up well and won it nicely. It’s tricky to say how a good a race it was, I’m not knocking any fillies, but it looked competitive without being red hot. But equally how many red-hot fillies are there about at the minute? 

"The Coolmore filly [Savethelastdance] looked good at Chester [in the Cheshire Oaks], but otherwise I’m not sure what’s about. She beat what was in front of her so you’ve just got to take that.

“It would have been lovely to put her on the turf, but equally I think she wants a sound surface. You can see she’s quite a fine filly. I spoke to Charlie and she’s not in at Epsom, but if it’s a sound surface it’s somewhere we could consider for her. 

“We’ll wait and see closer to the time and make a decision then. I wouldn't rule it out. We’ll see if it stops raining!”

Eternal Hope (blue): stretches clear of her rivals at Lingfield Credit: Mark Cranham

Appleby – who is yet to win the Epsom’s fillies’ Classic – has a notably weaker hand in the Oaks than the Derby with Dancing Goddess the shortest of his trio entered at 66-1.

Buick responded “she might be” when asked whether Eternal Hope could be supplemented at Epsom. He has also yet to strike in the Oaks, but was impressed by his first ride on the Godolphin homebred.

Buick told ITV Racing: "You probably would've liked these races to be on turf but that's the way it is. They still have to go a mile-and-a-half and there were some proper fillies in the race, so it was a good standard. 

"I was really pleased with her, she hasn't run since February and I was quite taken by how well she travelled around there. She's very genuine and straightforward, we didn't go very quick but she stayed the trip well. There's plenty of reasons to think she should improve for this."

Betfred Oaks (4.30 Epsom, June 2)

Coral: 6-4 Savethelastdance, 7 Infinite Cosmos, Running Lion, 8 Never Ending Story, 14 Bluestocking, Electric Eyes, 16 Azazat, Eternal Hope, 25 bar

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