Jordan Yates' Irish Oaks Preview.

The Irish Oaks is the feature this weekend over at the Curragh a Classic contest which is ridden over a distance a mile and four furlongs and this year see's just the seven runners going to post.

As expected there's a strong Ballydoyle presence at the top of the market with Aiden O'Brien training three of the four market leaders here and these include Magic Wand Forever Together and Bye Bye Baby. Magic Wand sits at the top of the market on the back of her dominant display in the Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot when bolting up and she looks sure to be right in the thick of it again here. She's currently trading at around a best priced of 6/4 and is the choice of Ryan Moore. Forever Together reversed the Cheshire Oaks form with Magic Wand when winning the Epsom Oaks however there is the argument that it was more down to the ground that got Magic Wand beat that day.

Nevertheless it was still a very impressive performance that day from this clearly talented sort but I do think she'll be seen to best effect with a bit of cut in the ground. She ran well the last day in the Pretty Polly despite being beaten at odds on and she could well put in another bold showing here with Donnacha O'Brien on board. She's a general 7/2 chance. Bye Bye Baby makes up the Ballydole lot here and is the mount of Seamie Heffernan, she actually finished above Magic Wand in the Epsom Oaks before following up with a fourth placed effort in the Pretty Polly the last day. She made most of the running that day and it's likely she'll be used in the same style here and that perhaps reflects in her 18/1 price, as she's a smart sort herself.

The UK raider here comes in the form of Sea Of Class for William Haggas a horse that has got me pretty excited if truth be told this term. I've been following her closely since her debut run at Newmarket when she was second and she's since gone on to win a couple of Listed contests in comfortable fashion. The Sea The Stars offspring will have to step up markedly again to go close here but I certainly think she's got the step up in her. There will of course be tactics involved with the Ballydole battalions and James Doyle will have to be at the top of his game, you can find her at around the 5/2 mark in the betting.

The rest of the field is made up firstly by Mary Tudor for Willie McCreery at 25/1, Romiyna for Dermot Weld at 33/1 and finally Tissiak for Joseph O'Brien at 50/1.

VERDICT: If you could probably tell from the build up i'm a big fan of this horse and that's why i'm siding with SEA OF CLASS. Hopefully the flashing of the tail the last day was nothing too much to get concerned about and she can take the step up here. Magic Wand will be very hard to beat and as stated before tactics will come into play but i'm keeping the faith with this Sea The Stars filly.

SEA OF CLASS - (5/2)