It was Frankie Dettori day at Epsom with the champion jockey riding the winners of both GI races on the card, Emily Upjohn gained redemption for her Oaks defeat last year, while Soul Sister won the Oaks to become the 28th Group I winner for champion sire Frankel and her full brother runs at Rosehill this afternoon.
Heading for retirement at the end of this year, Dettori is determined to go out in a blaze of glory and two exceptional fillies made it a day to remember.
Last year Emily Upjohn was an undefeated favourite going into the Oaks, but stumbled at the start and after circling the field came up short going down by a neck to the Coolmore owned Galileo filly Tuesday.
This year the daughter of Sea the Stars took on the Group I Coronation Cup (1m4f) and was primed for her seasonal return by John and Thady Gosden, proving too strong for the colts. She powered clear to beat last year’s Irish Derby winner Westover by a length and three-quarters.
“I thought it was a great performance. Emily Upjohn does feel better (than last year) and she does feel stronger in her mind. Even to my standards I was impressed with the turn of foot that she showed. For a big girl like that to quicken like that was impressive. She is a proper horse now. I suspect either the Eclipse or the King George again would be on the agenda,” said Dettori.
Bought for just 60,000 guineas by Blandford Bloodstock at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book Two, Emily Upjohn runs for owners that include Lord and Lady Andrew Lloyd Webber, who bought into the filly after her Oaks second last year. She has the overall record of five wins from seven starts with this victory her second at Group I level.
She is a three-quarter sister-in-blood to Champion 3YO and Epsom and Irish Derby winner Harzand being by his sire Sea the Stars from stakes-placed Barathea mare Hidden Brief, who comes from a power packed Black Type family that has also produced Group I winners Hurricane Lane and Seal of Approval.
The Epsom Oaks looked a two horse race on paper and so it turned out with the John and Thady Gosden trained Frankel filly Soul Sister stepping up from her last start win in the Group III Musidora Stakes to score a dominant length and a half win over race favourite Savethelastdance (Galileo)
"Emily Upjohn was incredible and now we've won the Oaks," said Dettori, after claiming his seventh win in the fillies' Classic on a homebred filly for Lady Bamford.
"It was a great feeling to hear the crowd and to win another Classic for the Bamfords, who have been great supporters of mine. I still can't believe I've won two Group 1s in the space of an hour!"
With three wins from four starts, Soul Sister is a full sister to Group III winner Dreamflight and Group III placed Herman Hesse, who runs in the Listed ATC Winter Cup at Rosehill this afternoon for the Maher and Eustace stable.
She is the fifth winner from five to race from Group II winning Dansili mare Dream Peace, a daughter of another Group II winner Only a Dream, the family producing Group I winning stayers Cerulean Sky and Moonstone and Group I winning sprinters Naval Crown and Aussie bred Wellington, the Champion HK Sprinter of 2022.
Soul Sister is the fifth stakes-winner for Frankel from a daughter of another of the Juddmonte sires in Dansili. The nick has produced 12 winners from 15 runners, so 80% winners to runners and the SW to runner is 33% with the best of them previously the Australian trained Group II winner Steinem.
