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.
