Horse Talk with Simon Jackson:

Top horse-racing tips and the latest news.

LOVE is impossible to oppose in the Group 1, £250,000 Darley Yorkshire Oaks at York on Thursday where she faces a maximum of five rivals.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained filly has been ultra-impressive in two starts this season when securing wide-margin victories in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on June 7 and the Investec Oaks at Epsom on July 4.

At Epsom Love travelled towards the rear of the field before improving her position after Tattenham Corner to challenge the leaders in the run-in and proved far superior in the closing stages to score by nine lengths for Ryan Moore.

Moore, speaking immediately after the Epsom victory, said: “I couldn’t have been happier with Love, and I don’t think she could have been any more impressive today. 

“You never expect to win an Oaks – I don’t know how far she won by [it was nine lengths], but it felt like a very long way. 

“She was exceptional today, and hopefully she has got plenty to look forward to in the future. She would be a threat to anything. 

“She wasn’t stopping at all, she actually got down to the rail and picked up again. She was very impressive. She is very good, very very good. 

Aidan O’Brien said of the Epsom victory: “Love is very special. It is very hard to say you would ever have a better filly than her; we saw what she did in the Guineas. I don’t know how far she won that by, three or four lengths, and she doubled it today, and it is only her second run of the year.”

The Darley Yorkshire Oaks forms part of the Fillies & Mares category of the QIPCO British Champions Series. The past three renewals have produced exceptional winners in Enable (2017 and 2019) and Sea Of Class (2018).

Darley Yorkshire Oaks 2020 – runners and riders

Manuela De Vega (Rob Hornby); Alpinista (Ryan Tate); Franconia (James Doyle); Frankly Darling (Robert Havlin); Love (Ryan Moore); One Voice (Tom Marquand)

Horse Talk with Simon Jackson. Showcasing horse racing in London and the south east.