The Indian Oaks (Gr 1), popularly known as the "Ladies' Derby" because the four year old fillies are asked to test their speed and stamina over the Derby trip of mile-and-a-half, is slated as the feature event of Saturday's excellent nine-race card. Eleven fillies are in the fray, and going by their recent form, none enjoys a decisive edge, and therefore, the third Classic of the Mumbai season wears an extremely open look.

The best one can do is attempt to extrapolate the form of the Indian 1000 Guineas run over the mile, and try to guess who among them can perform creditably over the extended trip. Three of the first four finishers in that race, barring the runner up Cosmic Ray, are in the Oaks fray, and it makes sense to focus on that trio: the winner Gift Of Grace (Speaking Of Which - Appeasing, trained by Ms Parvati Byramji), the third placed Juliette (Musketier - Gimmesumsugar, trained by Karthik G) and the fourth-placed Well Connected (Arazan Guest Connections, trained by S Padmanabhan).