Kalypso Katie prompted a significant shake-up in betting for the Vodafone Oaks with a narrow victory in the Tattersalls Musidora Stakes at York yesterday.
In a slow-run race she found the best turn of finishing speed to pip the front-runner Lady Upstage by a head.
The favourite, High Walden, appeared to be caught flat-footed when the pace was stepped up but stayed on well to finish third a further one and a half lengths away.
Kalypso Katie is as short as 3 to 1 for the fillies' Classic (William Hill & Coral), but Victor Chandler offer 5 to 1.
Trainer Jeremy Noseda admitted that he had been concerned that the ground might be too lively and that the filly was heavily in-season.
"Before the race I felt that everything was against her and I had virtually given up the ghost," he said. "I've certainly never run a filly so heavily in-season and if she'd been a broodmare she'd be covered tonight."
High Walden is still available at 14 to 1 for the Oaks but would have to be supplemented if she was going to run.
"It's up to Prince Khalid whether to supplement her for the Oaks but I would think she would run very well," said trainer Henry Cecil.
Meanwhile, Sakhee can make the most of the small field to dominate in the JWE Telecom Dante Stakes at York today.
Trainer John Dunlop, who knows what it takes to saddle a Vodafone Derby winner will have been pleased to see Going Global - who finished well held in third behind Sakhee in the Thresher Classic Trial at Sandown - going so close in the Gartner Derby Trial at Lingfield last weekend.
Interestingly, Dunlop's two previous winners of this race, Shirley Heights and Erhaab, both went on to glory in the Derby.
Sweet Sorrow can secure some hard-earned black type in the Brewin Dolphin Securities Middleton Stakes. In the frame in three similar events last season, she looked good when chasing home Right Wing, the pair well clear, at Kempton last month.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers Hambleton Rated Stakes can fall to The Prince, who will be fresh, having been off the track for seven weeks since his last start.
On his first start for new trainer Ian Williams, he showed guts when taking the Lincoln Trial on the Fibresand at Wolverhampton, proving too strong for eventual Lincoln winner John Ferneley in a driving finish.
Next time out at Kempton he possibly found the race coming too soon but had a hellish draw anyway and was far from disgraced. With the assistance of Frankie Dettori in the saddle today he will surely go close.
Meanwhile, at Brighton, Elms Schoolgirl can take the Happy Birthday Rosie Marsh Fillies' Handicap at Brighton.
The eccentricities of this course make it one where course specialists should always be followed - and James Eustace's filly was a three-time winner here last summer.
