Colima

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The forecast going at Epsom on Friday of good, good to firm in places, should pose no problems for Colima in the Investec Oaks, her trainer Ralph Beckett has revealed.

Colima booked her place in the Oaks when finishing runner up to the unbeaten Vow in the listed Betfred Oaks Trial Stakes on the all-weather at Lingfield earlier this month.

The three-and-a-quarter length second place was the second career start for the daughter of Authorized who made a winning debut when landing a Nottingham maiden on soft ground in November and is rated a 16-1 chance in Friday’s showpiece.

“The ground at Epsom wouldn’t concern me at all,” said Beckett, who won the Oaks in 2008 with Look Here.

“We are happy with Colima. Her work at the weekend was good and we are looking forward to running her.

“I think she has improved for her run at Lingfield. I wouldn’t be confident of bridging the gap on Vow – I’m not confident about anything – but we live in hope.

“I think she has the right attributes. She is a well balanced filly and has a very good temperament, so both of those are on our side. However, whether that is enough to see us over the line in front is a different thing altogether.”

Meanwhile Epsom clerk of the course Andrew Cooper is keeping a watchful eye on the weather.

“I would call the ground at Epsom good, good to firm in places,” Cooper said on Thursday. “It would ride as good fast ground if we raced on it at this particular moment in time, which is the type of ground summer Classics should be run on.

“I think in terms of where we would want to be when the meeting starts on Friday, it would be on that sort of ground, so the ground on Saturday would be no worse than good to firm.

“The last few nights we have had suggestions of thunderstorms that have missed us completely. The only prospect of rain for us is today, with showers coming in from the west to our neck of the woods. The showers are not predicted to be particularly heavy and then it looks like it is going to cool down and stay dry.

“We will see where we are mid-afternoon today because there is no doubt that if we don’t receive any rain today, to achieve what I have said, we will need to step back in and do something to the track.

“It is just a question of keeping the track where it is and on a daily basis we will have to put on somewhere in the region of three millimetres of water.”