Oscula lined up for Epsom return

Smart filly set for either Princess Elizabeth or Surrey Stakes at the Derby meeting.

George Boughey will be hoping for further success with his three-year-old fillies when Oscula returns to the track at Epsom during the two-day Derby meeting.

The Newmarket-based handler has already tasted Classic glory with Cachet this season and could strengthen his dominance in the division when the Nick Bradley Racing-owned Oscula makes her reappearance in either the Group Three Princess Elizabeth Stakes over a mile or Friday’s Listed Surrey Stakes over a furlong less.

Oscula won three times as a two-year-old, including the Woodcote at Epsom and the Prix Six Perfections at Deauville where she accounted for Andre Fabre’s Zellie. The consistent daughter of Galileo Gold also placed in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot and Group Two Rockfel Stakes, before finishing a gutsy third in the Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc weekend.

Despite finishing 2021 in the top 10 highest-rated British-trained two-year-old fillies, Oscula will be looking to bounce back from a disastrous trip to Saudi Arabia earlier this year, where she finished a tailed-off last in what was her first and only outing so far on dirt.

“We sent her off to Saudi in February which was a mistake, she came back very light,” explained Nick Bradley, managing director of Nick Bradley Racing.

“She had a month in the field while the weather warmed up, George has got her going and she’s going to return to the track at Epsom. She won the Woodcote there last season, so our thinking is we’ll go back there.

“She has an entry for the Surrey Stakes and she’ll also get an entry for the fillies’ race on Derby day (Princess Elizabeth), but we won’t know which to run in until Wednesday.”

Cazoo Derby Festival – Day One – Epsom Racecourse
Jockey Mark Crehan and trainer George Boughey (centre) celebrate after winning the Cazoo Woodcote EBF Stakes with Oscula during day one of the Cazoo Derby Festival at Epsom (Mike Egerton/PA)

Another high-ranking two-year-old Bradley also has high hopes for during her campaign at three is Corazon. Also trained by Boughey, the Markaz filly won the Group Three Prix d’Arenberg at ParisLongchamp last season and also placed in the Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster, beaten only half a length behind Clive Cox’s Caturra.

However, she has been off the track since suffering an injury in September’s Cheveley Park Stakes and Bradley states that her handler is willing to give her plenty of time to fully recover from that setback.

He continued: “She got injured in the Cheveley Park. Everything has gone perfect since, but George is just keen to take his time with her and is going steady.

“We could see her back on the track in July and she could be a high-class filly over five furlongs in the second half of the season.”

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