How a top trainer’s incredible Oaks race prediction from TWO YEARS ago came true – as leading bookmaker tips the winner
- Emma-lee Browne made Nostradamus proud with a Facebook post
- Her filly Basilinna is one of the leading contenders for the Oaks
- Top bookmaker estimates the three-year-old’s chances in the $1 million event
The trainer of Oaks prospect Basilinna made an eerily accurate prediction about the horse in a social media post more than two years before the filly was named to compete in the $1 million race with legendary jockey Damien Oliver on board.
Emma-lee Browne’s Facebook post from July 27, 2021 reads: ‘Our baby! The royal weanling filly looks fantastic after all the wonderful care and education given by Wentwood Grange. They did a great job and she looks great! Hopefully my Oaks filly.”
Now the horse has a great chance of coming out of the race and giving Oliver his record eighth Oaks win, making him one of the top favorites, while she pays $9.50.
Trainer Emma-lee Browne (photo) is overjoyed that her July 2021 prediction has come true with her filly Basilinna
She predicted the three-year-old would one day compete for the $1 million race in a Facebook post (pictured)
Basilinna is the daughter of stallion Staphanos and Shinko King mare So Royal, with David Browne buying the latter horse for his wife Emma-lee after her favorite nag, Monarch Chimes, passed away.
“To make me feel better he thought he would buy me a Shinko King mare and we bred her and this is the first foal,” Browne told the newspaper. Herald Sun.
“You always think about (the chance of a horse running in the Oaks) with a bit of a staying type, but at the time I never thought she would actually be there.
“It’s just great to have her in the race.”
Oliver knows Basilinna well, having ridden her for her last two starts in what Browne called their “big plan” to give the three-year-old the best chance of victory.
Basilinna (pictured) is among the top three odds to knock out the Oaks race on Thursday, according to one of Australia’s leading bookmakers
It’s the final Melbourne Spring Carnival for jockey Damien Oliver (pictured) and a win over Basilinna would give him a record eighth Oaks win
Meanwhile leading bookmaker and Bet Right CEO Anthony Waller is tipping Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Mark Zahra to win the oaks on Aethelflaed.
“It pays to follow an in-form jockey and after a first-class, battle-free run to victory in the Melbourne Cup, no one is more confident at the moment than Mark Zahra,” Waller explains.
‘Despite finishing behind many of her rivals in her most recent outing, Aethelflaed stood out with a number of fast-paced sections and the extra distance of Thursday’s feature will be right up her alley.’
Waller believes Zahra’s main competition will come from Tropical Squall, who will likely take the lead and be difficult to chase, and none other than Oliver on Basilinna.
‘It is well documented that the championship ring is retired at the end of the Spring Carnival and that a win in the Oaks would not only cap a remarkable career in the saddle but also provide a fairytale ending befitting such’ a champion. ‘ he said.
He’s not so keen on favorite Zardozi, though – he points out she looks ‘a bit overpriced at $2.90’, while jockey James McDonald doesn’t have a good success rate at events in Melbourne.