Horse Racing

Robbie Griffiths’ Cranbourne-based filly Girl In Flight will shoot for her second on the trot in Adelaide this Saturday backing up from a Group 3 Morphettville win back at the track for Saturday’s Schweppes Oaks 2014.

Girl In Flight shoots for back-to-back Morphettville wins in Saturday's Schweppes Oaks 2014. Photo: Jenny Barnes.

Registered as the Australasian Oaks, this year’s $400,000 Group 1 Schweppes Oaks (2000m) has attracted a bumper final field of 18 final acceptors.

Sixteen of those three-year-old fillies are guaranteed a start with two emergencies lying in wait.

Griffiths’ grey Commands filly travelled to South Australia last start and enjoyed her first win of the season enjoying a step up in distance to put a length on In Masquerade in the Group 3 Schweppervescence Stakes (1800m).

She sees more distance again here going up to 2000m and could be hard to beat in the Group 1.

The next three over the line behind Girl In Flight in the Schweppervescence Stakes are also all accepted for the Australasian Oaks field this weekend.

Runner-up In Masquerade is one of four in the race for Melbourne’s Peter Moody along with Duke Of Marmalade filly Lady Tatia, the former David Payne-trained Quayside and the improving Akagera drawn in barriers five, two, eight and 15 respectively.

Schweppervescence third placegetter May’s Dream then has a horror barrier 15 draw to overcome but will come into 13 if the emergencies fail to gain a run, while fourth placed Perfect Company will be ridden by Steven Arnold in gate 10.

The Darren Weir-trained May’s Dream has her third Group 1 run here having finished second to Guelph in last spring’s Thousand Guineas over the mile and eighth to Kirramosa after over racing in Flemington’s Crown Oaks over the 2500m.

Perfect Company meanwhile has had just the one Black Type run, Greg Eurell’s Stratum filly stepped up in class for their Schweppervescence appearance after a fourth length win in the mud at Seymour over the mile at the end of March.

Other notable hopes then include the likes of the lightly raced Sebring filly Scratchy Bottom having her first run since a fifth to Pheidon in the Group 2 Alister Clark Stakes over 2040m at Moonee Valley in mid-March, and the Robert Smerdon-trained stable mates Every Faith (barrier 14) and Rezoned (barrier 12).

Every Faith won the Listed Mittys Laelia Stakes (1600m) over In Masquerade at the track before their last start Schweppervescence Stakes fifth while Zabeel filly Rezoned makes her Adelaide debut here.

See below for the complete Schweppes Australasian Oaks 2014 field, barriers and jockeys.

All the big Group 1 racing odds for Saturday will be found online at Ladbrokes.com.au who are offering a $250 match deposit bonus bet for first time customers this weekend!

2014 Schweppes Oaks Final Field & Barrier Draw

Morphettville Race 6 – 3:05pm (local) – 26/04/2014