Soul Sister redresses the balance

Twelve months after Emily Upjohn's luckless defeat in the Epsom Oaks behind the Ballydoyle trained Tuesday, John Gosden gained revenge on Friday with Soul Sister proving too speedy for Aidan O'Brien's Savethelastdance winning by a length and three quarters. An impressive winner of the Musidora Stakes at York last month, the daughter of Frankel was held up early on before making her move early in the homestraight. Frankie Dettori was evidently going much better than Ryan Moore and she swept to the front and never looked like being headed thereafter. It is the second time owner Lady Bamford has won the twelve furlongs event with a homebred. Highlighted in the Appendix under the Classic Contenders section in Ahead On The Flat, Soul Sister is a top-class filly who is capable of dropping back to ten furlongs with races such as the Nassua Stakes at Goodwood a distinct possibility later this summer.

The aforementioned Emily Upjohn produced an equally impressive performance in the Group 1 Coronation Cup earlier on the same card. Returning from a break of 230 days, the four year old quickened up smartly on the outside and lengthened away from Westover to win by the same margin as her younger stablemate. The Sea The Stars filly settled well during the early stages, and was too quick for Ralph Beckett's runner when the tempo lifted in the homestraight. On this evidence, she will be a major player in all the top middle distance contests this year. On her day, she is a brilliant filly.

Elsewhere, Perfuse who is featured in the Unraced Three Year Olds section of AOTF may have booked his place for Royal Ascot when making it two wins from three starts in the twelve furlongs novice stakes at Doncaster on Friday evening. The Sir Michael Stoute trained son of Lope De Vega had won over ten furlongs on testing conditions at Nottingham last time and he handled a much sounder surface at Town Moor recording a two lengths win under Richard Kingscote. The Juddmonte owned colt is now qualified for races such as the King George V Handicap at the Royal meeting and is a fast improving sort. Kingscote has endured a frustrating spell for the Freemason Lodge team in recent weeks and hopefully a win here will boost his confidence ahead of Passenger's run in the Epsom Derby on Saturday.

Overall, it was another successful day for followers of Ahead On The Flat with Aimeric (15/8), Beautron (11/2), Cadillac (12/1), Embesto (4/9), Emily Upjohn (11/4), Perfuse (5/6) and Soul Sister (11/4) winning.