Frankie Dettori's remarkable swansong continued as he partnered Soul Sister (11/4) to a brilliant success in the Betfred Oaks at Epsom to claim a second Group One on the day.
There was drama before the Oaks began with Running Lion, a stablemate of the winner, taken out of the stalls and withdrawn to the obvious frustration of Oisin Murphy who hurled his whip to the ground.
Outsider Sea Of Roses and Heartache Tonight were among those prominent with Dettori anchoring the eventual winner in rear, spotting an advantage of several lengths to odds-on favourite Savethelastdance.
The two market leaders had both run out hugely impressive winners of their trials but the John and Thady Gosden-trained Soul Sister appeared to be travelling by far the better of the pair in the straight.
Dettori made a big move from last having rounded Tattenham Corner but then looked to be holding Soul Sister together on the cambers with her suspect stamina in mind. In contrast, Ryan Moore was already urging Cheshire Oaks winner Savethelastdance along and the two rivals were to the fore passing the two-furlong pole with Caernarfon (fourth in the 1000 Guineas) the meat in their sandwich.
Caernarfon kept on well, eventually losing her battle with Savethelastdance for second, but by then Dettori was already celebrating a seventh victory in the fillies' Classic.
The winning margins were a length and three quarters and a head with the first three pulling eight lengths clear of the remainder.
Soul Sister was introduced into the betting for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at 14/1 by Sky Bet.
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John Gosden said: "She had a funny old draw and Frankie saw early on he was going to be stacked three, four wide so he dropped her back virtually to last so she had to have the class to come down the outside and pass the whole field which she did.
"I was really happy when he decided to drop her in and save ground, you can't go three, four wide round here and expect to win unless you're sort of 25 lengths the best. It was a great Plan B. In the straight my only feeling was she was coming there nicely but I had no idea if she would stay, the family have not got a mile and a half, so I was naturally concerned she wouldn't stay - she showed a lot of speed in the Musidora - but she's come and done it extremely well and showed a great attitude.
"She hated the ground (in the Fred Darling) so Frankie gave her a piece of work, which was very nice of him, she appreciated it; it was the right thing, it was heavy, it wasn't soft, it was bottomless and she trained well and came up to the Musidora very well and the rest is now history."
Gosden and Dettori had already combined to win the Group One Coronation Cup with Emily Upjohn and the trainer will have to juggle his two star fillies in the second half of the season but Soul Sister has more immediate targets.
"I think anything from a mile and a quarter to a mile and a half would be fine for her, the obvious race is the Irish Oaks but I wouldn't be frightened of any mile and a quarter race for her either because she's got the gears," he continued. "Emily Upjohn is probably a mile and a half but I think she could come back to an Eclipse but I wouldn't be (afraid of coming back in trip with Soul Sister); she looked pretty cool in here."
Gosden was able to reveal the events leading to Running Lion's withdrawal and reported that his filly was back in the stables and would be prepared for a second crack at a Classic but this time in France.
"She kicked out and caught her leg on the gate and scraped it and they didn't want to run her and they had to open the back gate and let her out, then she got loose and we saw she was upset," he said.
"She's never done anything wrong in the gates, she's been like a pussycat. I think she was probably getting ready to go, caught her leg so they've withdrawn her. She's absolutely fine, we'll get her right her home and go to the Prix Diane in 16 days."
Dettori will retire later this year but is revelling in a fantastic swansong season.
"It is mental!" he said. "I will be honest with you. Three Group Ones, three good rides, to have two in the bag already with the Derby to go is crazy.
"She jumped good and then I was looking for somebody to follow. I wanted to get behind Ryan but William (Buick, jockey of Eternal Hope) already had that position so then I thought Oisin is out of the way and the ones to beat now is Ryan and William.
"So I parked myself behind William and wanted to try to get her to relax, the pace was honest and then we come, nearly out of Tattenham Corner, William just dived in front of me; she's got very little experience so I thought even if I go a bit wide at least I've got clean air to the straight and then I had to avoid the other pacemaker and had to go even more wide.
"And then Connor (Beasley, jockey of Caernarfon) came upsides me and I didn't ask for my filly's ultimate effort. I thought just bide your time and wait to just before the furlong marker and I did and then you're in the lap of the gods, she's going to go or not and thankfully she did and that was a great relief and I was able to enjoy the screaming of the crowd.
"I loved it."
Aidan O'Brien offered no excuses for Savethelastdance, saying: "She ran very well, she was flat out all the way. Obviously totally different ground to what she ran on before and when they handle soft ground as well as she does you often think about going on better ground but she ran a great race and got beat by a very classy filly.
"Ryan said she wasn't finished going to the line, she was still going there, so we're delighted with her run really.
"I don't think so (that she's ground dependent). We'll see how she comes out of it but she went on it, obviously she handles soft ground better than most but it was still a very good run from her."
Jack Channon, trainer of third-placed Caernarfon, said: “At the top of the hill she was travelling so well, but you could see that Frankie was travelling just as well. We picked up just as well as her (Soul Sister) up until about the furlong pole, and she probably hasn’t quite got up the hill.
“She’s a very good filly, we’re blessed to have her in the yard, and it’s just a massive thank you to everyone in the yard who has done such a great job. They produce all of my horses to run so well and I can’t be more grateful for all the work they’ve done. And obviously to Steven and Lesley Smith and their team at Hunscote Stud for believing in me and trusting me to go for the Oaks; trust me, there was a lot of discussion about it. It’s fantastic.”
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