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Key form lines converge for a cracking Oaks

Several key form lines converge for South Australia’s first Group 1 race of the year: a cracking edition of the Schweppes Oaks for three-year-old fillies over 2000m at Morphettville on Saturday.

The Group 3 Auraria Stakes (1800m) at Morphettville on April 18 is a major form reference, as is the Group 1 ATC Oaks (2400m) at Randwick a week earlier.

However, the early favourite and another each-way hope both come out of the $427,000 VOBIS Sires Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield, on April 18.

Victorian trainer Dan O’Sullivan’s Affair to Remember is the early market leader, after her slashing third in the Caulfield race, coming from well back – with little luck – to be beaten by a small margin. Importantly, Affair to Remember has won on a soft track, albeit in a maiden at Geelong.

Moonlight Maid posted possibly the second or third best run in the Caulfield race, behind Affair to Remember and Beehunter, which ran well at Flemington last Saturday.

Chris Waller’s Betcha Flying is on the quick back-up after a tough, but convincing win at Flemington on Anzac Day over 1700m, but will need a good steer from Dom Tourneur, who won the race aboard Phillip Stokes’ runner Maybe Discreet in 2013.

The Adelaide form line is headed by Auraria Stakes winner Silent Sovereign, which was only second up that day and won fair and square. The Tony and Calvin McEvoy-trained runner is again well drawn for Barend Vorster, and should be around the mark.

Other to run well in the Auraria included runner-up Selica, the super-honest Wings of Pastrami and Realm of Flowers, who is a third emergency but will emerge as a genuine chance if she gains a run. Mark Kavanagh’s Vegas Jewel, who performed well in Melbourne during the spring carnival, also ran in the Auraria but never saw daylight up the Morphettville straight.

The presence of two well-performed runners directly out of the Group 1 ATC Oaks (2400m), run on a heavy Randwick track on April 11, adds extra spice – and quality – to the Schweppes Oaks.

Chris Waller’s Toffee Tongue ran an excellent second behind potential staying star Collette, and was extending her margin on the rest of the field in the final 100 metres. Those behind her included Waller stablemate Nudge, who finished fourth.

Waller won the race back in 2017 with Egg Tart, while Phillip Stokes is gunning for his third Schweppes Oaks (registered as the Australasian Oaks) with Selica, to be ridden by apprentice Kayla Crowther.

Selections: 1. Vegas Jewel; 2. Toffee Tongue; 3. Affair to Remember; 4. Silent Sovereign.

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