NEWINN LIZ is vying for favouritism in The Property192 Oaks 2020 at Swindon after an impressive effort in the delayed first round at Swindon on Thursday.

Ernie Gaskin’s bitch was soon clear in heat 11 as she posted a fast 27.96sec (normal) for the 476m trip, taking full advantage of her favoured trap six draw which the two-year-old will again wear in Monday’s second round.

Following the rescheduling of the event after last Sunday’s planned start was postponed due to fog, the semi-finals will now take place on Sunday, December 13, with the £15,000 final – plus £5,000 to the winning trainer – taking place a week later.

Fastest in Thursday’s heats was Velvet Juliet after last year’s Oaks semi-finalist, Sunderland Classic winner and Monmore Gold Cup runner-up struck in heat two when giving the track record a shake.

Starting well and keeping up a powerful gallop throughout, the three-year-old crossed the line just over five lengths clear of Produce Stakes champion Queen Jessiej in 27.88sec – just two spots off the 476m clock.

However, in winning, Velvet Juliet strained a hock and misses the rest of the event.

Training honours on Thursday went to a former Swindon handler in Kevin Hutton who notched up a double courtesy of strong-running Galloping Moon (28.43sec) in the opening heat and British-bred Produce finalist Lights Out (28.10sec) in heat 10.

The Hutton camp has won the past two Oaks courtesy of Ravenswood Flo and Bull Run Byte and Liz McNair’s Queen Franklin, a finalist behind the latter 12 months ago, began her own 2020 campaign in the best possible style.

Lining up in heat five, the British-bred led off the second bend and held off Sweet Leaf (Emma Richards) by a neck in 28.47sec.

Successful favourites were few and far between, although Barrie Draper’s heat three victor Ballyboss Con (28.15), Newinn Liz and Mark Wallis’s last heat winner Aayamza Lexie (28.39sec) cheered backers.

Crayford trainer Jim Daly was on the mark in heat eight as Droopys Coffee drew away from her rivals to win in 28.23sec. The winner, litter sister of Tenpin, is owned by Stephen Harvey, who won the 2018 Oaks with Ravenswood Flo.

The other heats went to Patrick Godfrey’s local Arthur Sprout (28.39sec), Tom Heilbron’s Jumeirah Liberty (28.31sec), another local in Angie Kibble’s Only You (28.64sec) and Jamie Kingsley’s Ballymac Iona (28.57sec).

Wrapping up the first round, Swindon’s social media manager and photographer Josh Sealey said: “It was great to get the Oaks started after Sunday’s postponement and in some ways it’s worked out even better.

“It meant the first round was able to be shown on Sky Sports Racing who are doing a fantastic job in covering the racing here at Swindon every Thursday. We’ve had graded races up to now, but Sky’s viewers were able to see some top-class open-race action.

“We now move on to Monday’s second round live on the TRP service and then the semis and final live on RPGTV. It means the competition will get coverage over a whole host of mediums – coverage which it absolutely deserves. We’ll back that up with some good social media content, too.

“Newinn Liz is still my favourite for the competition and again looked quick last night, only beaten timewise by Velvet Juliet. She also impressed, of course, so it was especially sad to hear that she injured herself and now misses the rest of the Oaks.

“I was actually filming commentator Kevan Minter myself ahead of heat 11 – I thought Newinn Liz had a chance to break the clock, so thought I’d turn the camera on ‘The Colonel’. It wasn’t to be, but Liz certainly ran a cracker. Anyway, it gave social media followers an alternative view of the action.

“I thought the track ran well considering the poor weather we had during the morning. The previous day’s meeting was prepared slightly faster in order to compensate for the rain forecast the following morning, which duly came. However, with a ‘normal’ going allowance, we hopefully did our job right!

“A big thank-you must go to Oaks sponsor Colin Davey and I’m already looking forward to Monday’s second round.”

Trap draw for Monday’s second round of The Property192 Oaks 2020: www.bagsracing.com/assets/7-december—swindon-adv.pdf