Investec Oaks - Authority of John Gosden duo Mehdaayih and Anapurna to be decided by Epsom contours

Both head to Surrey on the back of impressive trial wins, with Mehdaayih supplemented for Classic glory after winning the Cheshire Oaks so well under Robert Havlin.

Anapurna looked a stout stayer when landing the Lingfield Oaks Trial, and she will once again be ridden by Frankie Dettori. “Both fillies won with some authority, and Anapurna would be more of the staying type of filly,” said Gosden.

“Both are athletic fillies and are light on their feet, so should handle the track – but when you are in the thick of it coming down the hill jostling for position, that is a different ball game. You have got to be on your correct lead straightaway.”

Yorkshire-born William Haggas runs Frankellina and Maqsad. The latter has won both her races this season – but she does have a stamina doubt. Owner Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum’s racing manager Angus Gold said: “I think William Haggas has made no secret that she is very effective over a mile and a quarter, but he doesn’t know if she will be as effective over a mile and a half.

“She is by a fast horse (Siyouni), who does get them to stay, but there is plenty of stamina on the dam’s side, so she might well stay further – whether she will be as effective at that trip only time will tell.”

In a race that sees North Yorkshire trainer David O’Meara saddle the outsider Blue Gardenia for owner Sir Robert Ogden, Aidan O’Brien’s Pink Dogwood is Mehdaayih’s chief market rival.

“We loved her last year – we always thought she was going to be a middle-distance filly, and we always thought she was going to be our main Oaks filly,” said the Ballydoyle trainer. “She was only just ready to start when she won at Navan, and that was a slowly-run race. She has come forward from that.”

Meanwhile, Chester Vase winner Sir Dragonet heads O’Brien’s seven runners in tomorrow’s Derby – Flat racing’s most prestigious contest.

The son of O’Brien’s Derby hero Camelot earned the right to be supplemented at a cost of £85,000 when overcoming greenness to land a striking eight-length success over stablemate Norway on his second start.

Sir Dragonet, who will be ridden by Ryan Moore, had only made his debut at Tipperary two weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, O’Brien has booked the aforementioned Dettori to ride Circus Maximus in the big race which has attracted 13 runners – including Telecaster who won the Dante Stakes at York.

Jump jockey Tommy Dowson rode out his conditional rider’s claim when Zig Zag was a wide-margin winner at Cartmel for North Yorkshire trainer Phil Kirby.

Dowson, who now has 75 victories to his name, recorded his first win five years ago.

He also struck up an effective partnership with Kirby’s stable star Lady Buttons after Adam Nicol was injured in a fall on New Year’s Day.