Dave Nevison's Epsom tips: best bets for Oaks day on Friday

I tipped up Koy Koy last time out and was quite relieved in the end to get the extra place money as he got a terrible run through, and only just nabbed fifth on the line. 

The reasons for me backing Koy Koy apply again in this handicap in that he is not a badly handicapped horse being just 2lb higher than his last win, and has reasonable excuses for the line of coconuts in his form figures, including an unsuccessful trip to Dubai. 

He ran really well off a mark of 99 at Ayr last September but the key reasons he will likely go off favourite here is the return to a mile. His past two victories have been over at least this trip, and William Buick, who has won and been runner-up on him from just two rides, is aboard. 

George Boughey has had four winners from his past ten runners so is in red-hot form, which is another positive.

Kevin Thomas Coleman will have been very pleased to get a winner this week after a barren spell since the middle of March, and the return to form might give credence to the view that Derry Lad has looked set for a return to winning form imminently. 

His handler did an excellent job sending his charge over here for the Sky Bet Sunday Series last season as Derry Lad won two races in the series, and did not get the best of runs in his attempt to land the £100,000 bonus in two subsequent starts. 

He definitely looks to have been brought along with a summer campaign in mind this season and his run at Naas last time out, when he stayed on over a mile, looked particularly eye-catching. 

He will be very well suited by the step back up in trip here, and being a hold-up runner based upon the very strong pace that is likely. 

Hayley Turner will have to navigate a good passage through these runners but Derry Lad has just 8st 2lb here and I expect him to arrive in very good form.

Regular readers will know that I bet in handicaps pretty much exclusively nowadays, but I do make exceptions for the Classics, and I take a lot of moving from my view that the Guineas are often the best guide to the Oaks and Derby. 

This is particularly true of Ylang Ylang who ran really well in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas where she stayed on notably well to be fifth. 

She was running over too short a trip and on ground that was likely too quick, yet she still achieved the highest rating of any in this field. 

She won the Group One Fillies' Mile as a two-year-old, demonstrating more stamina than her rivals, and is the only Group One winner in the field. She has clearly shown her best form with give in the ground, which she gets here, and she is trained by Aidan O’Brien who has won six out of the past ten renewals of this race, so she is a surprisingly big price at 9-4, in my opinion.

Finished runner-up in this race last year and went on to land a good handicap at Newmarket’s July course off a rating of 91, and is 4lb lower now, but clearly signalled he was in form last time out at Newmarket in the same race that Koy Koy was unlucky in. 

If anything, Darkness was even more hindered in his progress being squeezed out on all sides and having no chance to get going before the line. 

Jason Watson is sticking with him over the other David O’Meara-trained runner whom he has ridden for all his recent starts, and it looks the right choice. 

The six-year-old looks to be an in form, and well handicapped, performer now, and I am hopeful that Darkness can go one better than last season.