Soul Sister’s Musidora romp gives Frankie Dettori big chance in Oaks

John Gosden and Frankie Dettori do not have many Group-race winners at 18-1 - but then, they do not have many Group-race runners that finished 12th of 12 on their most recent start. That was the distinctly unpromising line of form next to Soul Sister’s name before the Musidora Stakes here on Wednesday, but the three-year-old confounded the market expectations with an emphatic four-length success in the last major trial for the Oaks, and she is now the 4-1 second-favourite (from 50-1) for the Classic on 2 June.

Soul Sister was a 6-1 shot for last month’s Fred Darling Stakes on heavy ground at Newbury, where she finished nearly 10 lengths behind the second-last filly over the line. She was transformed by better ground and an extra three furlongs, however, and closed ominously towards the stands’ side with just over a furlong to run before sweeping to the front and going further clear all the way to the line.

Soul Sister was bred by her owner, Lady Bamford, who also bred Sariska, the winner of both the Musidora and the Oaks in 2009, and will join her stable companion, Running Lion, in the field at Epsom next month. Aidan O’Brien’s Savethelastdance, the Cheshire Oaks winner, remains favourite for the fillies’ Classic, at a top price of around 13-8, from 5-4 on Wednesday morning.

“We were all puzzled a bit [after Newbury],” Dettori said, “but perhaps [it was] the ground and seven furlongs, and it was a point of the year when John’s horses all needed a run.

“John was pretty confident, he said I’m not going to run her for no reason, but I didn’t expect her to do that. She travelled, quickened twice and felt really good.”

Soul Sister was not the only filly to post an impressive win on the Dante meeting’s opening card as Azure