Beckett to rely on A La Prochaine in Oaks

Ralph Beckett is set to rely on Chester third A La Prochaine in his bid to win a third Betfred Oaks, with stablemate K Sarra deemed an unlikely runner after galloping at Epsom on Tuesday.

It is 18 years since the Kimpton Downs handler broke his Classic duck in the fillies’ showpiece with Look Here in 2008, a result he bettered in 2013 by saddling Talent and Secret Gesture to finish first and second respectively.

K Sarra emerged as a potential contender for this year’s renewal after finishing third behind Legacy Link in the Musidora Stakes at York two weeks ago, but while she was given a taste of the Surrey Downs on the track’s traditional gallops morning, Beckett is in favour of waiting for Royal Ascot.

“I was happy with her and she went well, but I think it’s unlikely she will show up on Friday week,” he said.

“Our first reaction after York was to head to the Ribblesdale and today I think confirmed that.

“It was a good piece of work and they didn’t hang around, but she just didn’t handle it as well as we hoped.”

Having won her sole juvenile start at Newbury, the Wathnan Racing-owned A La Prochaine tested her Classic credentials in the Cheshire Oaks on her reappearance and performed with credit in finishing third behind current Epsom favourite Amelia Earhart.

Beckett added: “I think she will be our main hope, she’s trained well since Chester and I’ve been really pleased with how she is looking.

“A La Prochaine is very light on her feet and I would be pretty hopeful she would handle Epsom. She went round Chester pretty well for such an inexperienced filly and because she went round Chester so well there was no need to bring her here today.

“We don’t know how good she is yet. Her work has always been promising but she’s still a very immature filly so we’ve had to tread carefully.

“I’m confident she’s up to the grade and pretty confident she will handle the track, but I’m just not entirely certain how good she is.”

Beckett also houses a likely Betfred Derby runner in Bay Of Brilliance, who won two of his three starts at two and was only beaten a neck by Maltese Cross in the Lingfield Derby Trial.

“I’m very happy with him and he’s in good form. I was very pleased with the Lingfield effort and everyone could see it was a good run,” said the trainer.

“He is worthy of his place in the Derby and we have to look forward to it. He’s got a run under his belt now and he has shown he’s good enough to go to Epsom and is the right sort of horse to take there.

“I’d be confident he will run a really good race providing he gets a reasonable draw.”