Mum's the word for Eswarah

Her dam Midway Lady stormed to Epsom glory back in the days when Crocodile Dundee was packing them in and Spitting Image were at number one with The Chicken Song. And now, fully 19 years on, Eswarah can follow in the footsteps of her famous mum by landing tomorrow's Vodafone Oaks.

Any suggestion that this Michael Jarvis-trained filly would be lining up as Oaks favourite would have seemed fanciful as recently as seven weeks ago. But seven weeks is a long time in the life of a maturing thoroughbred, and what Eswarah has achieved during that period suggests she is more than ready to make her mark at Classic level.

First up came a maiden at Newbury's Greenham meeting. The market suggested she had been showing plenty on the gallops, and the race confirmed that view as she quickened impressively to forge clear of the subsequent Cheshire Oaks winner Alumni.

Bookmakers were suitably impressed in issuing a 20-1 Oaks quote, but that was soon snapped up. You had to look hard to beat 5-1 by the time she returned to Newbury for a Listed race three weeks ago, and another smooth success there means Eswarah is now around 9-4 to retain her unbeaten record.

Is she the best value bet you will strike this season at that price? Almost certainly not. But is she good enough to mix it with some of the best middle-distance fillies Britain and Ireland can muster? On balance, she almost certainly is.

Jarvis hasn't carved a reputation as the trainer other trainers look up to by hyping horses, so his bullish comments about Eswarah's progress are surely significant-"She always works brilliantly" is one quote which lodges in the mind, while his decision to award her "nine and a half out of 10" when asked about her Oaks credentials goes down as one of the most ringing endorsements this cautious veteran has ever given a horse.