Oaks Day Magic
starting post. She won literally in a walkover. Some lists of Oaks winners date from 1861, but this denies Birdswing and the 1860 winner – George Watson’s Derby winner Flying Colours – their due. Flying Colours won her Oaks in a walkover too. In later years, Oaks competition has been tighter! The Kennedy Oaks has a special cachet. The honour board includes such modern-day champions as Jameka, Surround, Research and the brilliant Miss Finland. The half sisters Rose of Kingston and Spirit of Kingston won in 1981 and 1984 respectively. Rose’s son Kingston Rule, sired by American turf legend Secretariat, won the 1990 Melbourne Cup, in record time. Five VRC Oaks winners have themselves won a Melbourne Cup. In the cases of Briseis (1876), Auraria (1895) and Sister Olive (1921), their Oaks victories came two days after winning their Melbourne Cups. And Briseis and Auraria had also run in the Victoria Derby three days before that – Briseis winning, Auraria a good third. It is an impressive feat, one that no modern trainer would dream of replicating. In 1955 and 1964 respectively, Evening Peal and Light Fingers won the Oaks and went on to take the Cup a year later as four-year-old mares. Chicquita’s story links with other pages of Flemington’s racing history. Her dam Starr Faithfull (named after an American socialite) was once owned by (Sir) Chester Manifold at his Talindert Stud at Camperdown. In 1943 Manifold had been elected vice chairman of the VRC. At the time he was absent on active war service and needed to reduce his broodmare holdings with a ‘Stud Depletion Sale’. His good friend and near neighbour,
MAGIC TOUCH: Jameka, led in by Lucy Yeomans and ridden by Damien Oliver, was a popular Oaks winner in 2015. She went on to win the 2016 Caulfield Cup. (Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)
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