With a dominating win in the York Tattersalls Musidora Stakes, Secret Satire elevated her hopes for the Classic.
In the hands of Oisin Murphy, the filly trained by Andrew Balding was sent off as a 22-1 chance and finished prominently on the far side of the course.
She maintained her lead throughout the straight to beat Francophone by two lengths at the finish, with Classical Song trailing in third place by another half length.
After being dropped near the back of the field, Friendly Soul, the 8–11 favourite, never travelled and pulled hard before finishing last out of the seven runners.
The sponsors lowered Secret Satire, who had been third in a Sandown novice on her seasonal reappearance, to 14-1 for the Betfred Oaks, a race that Andrew Balding has previously won with Casual Look.
His wife Anna-Lisa said: “Andrew was very hopeful that she’d come on from her last run, which was encouraging, and she looked well today. He said to me before I left this morning ‘come back with a winner, it’ll be tough, but this filly will finish in the first three’. Oisin was confident actually when we legged him up and he’s come back in and been very complimentary, so we’ll see how she is but I think the last Friday in May (Oaks) could be an option. They didn’t go very quick early and she was over-racing a little bit for the first half a mile, but she’s a gorgeous filly who really covers the ground. I’m so delighted for Guy Brook (owner/breeder), it’s his first Group winner, he’s a big supporter and I’m absolutely thrilled. It’s 21 years since we won the Oaks (with Casual Look) and it’s just lovely to have runners in those big races. It’s the time of year when all the geese are swans and all the smiles on the mornings can turn the wrong way round, but that one will really put a smile on Andrew’s face.”
Murphy added: “She wasn’t that silly early, we were just going very slow and I couldn’t get cover because the leaders stayed off the rail. It wasn’t a true test of stamina, so we don’t really know whether she’s going to stay at Epsom, but on that performance she didn’t do a lot in front and she deserves maybe to go there if Andrew decides.”
Francophone won at Southwell when she made her reappearance, and her trainer Charlie Johnston acknowledged that the loss left her with a 16-1 shot.
The third song, Classical Song, and the fourth, La Pasionaria, were ridden by Ralph Beckett.
Ralph Beckett saddled the third, Classical Song, and fourth La Pasionaria.
He said: “I thought it was a good effort from both our fillies. We’ll see how they come out of it. Classical Song might wait for the Ribblesdale, I think she’ll get a mile and a half looking at that. The other filly, I’ll work it out, we’ve others to think about but I was really pleased with her. Both our trial winners (Forest Fairy and You Got To Me) will go for the Oaks and I’ll work out what we do with these two, something else.”