Stoute-trained Infinite Cosmos rockets to Oaks favouritism

Not quite an out-of-this world performance, but filly is clearly held in high regard.

Infinite Cosmos is the new favourite for next month’s Betfred Oaks following an impressive display on her seasonal reappearance at Newmarket.

Narrowly beaten on her debut at Doncaster in the autumn, the Sir Michael Stoute-trained daughter of Sea The Stars was already a single-figure price for the Epsom Classic with some bookmakers ahead of her return in the Nyetimber Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

With Ryan Moore in the plate, Infinite Cosmos was the 8-11 favourite to cement her Classic claims and did so in some style, overcoming signs of inexperience to score by just over four lengths.

Stoute did his best to downplay her performance in the immediate aftermath, but Paddy Power nevertheless make her their 6-1 market leader from 8-1 for the Oaks, while Unibet were even more impressed and offer just 4-1.

“It was very pleasing. I didn’t think she was particularly impressive there, she was workmanlike, but she is a work in progress and still a little bit green and babyish, so hopefully that will have done her the power of good,” said the Freemason Lodge handler.

“I’d say she’s developed pleasingly from two to three. They don’t all do that, but I’d say she has.

“We’ll take her back and work her and see how much we think she has progressed from this race, but hopefully she’s going to be in stakes races.

“We’ll run her in a trial and make a decision (on the Oaks) after that. I don’t think she’s going to be sparkling at this stage of her career as she needs to grow up.

“The ground was very soft at Doncaster and she went through that and today it’s on the slow side of good and she handles that. I think she may be impervious to ground.”

Soprano strides clear at Newmarket
Soprano strides clear at Newmarket (David Davies/PA)

Soprano appears to have booked her ticket to Royal Ascot after justifying cramped odds on her first competitive start in the British EBF Maiden Fillies’ Stakes.

Plenty was expected of George Boughey’s Highclere-owned juvenile as the 6-4 favourite and she came up with the goods, passing the post with just under two lengths in hand to complete a treble on the card for champion jockey William Buick.

Dramatised won the five-furlong contest last year before going on to land the Queen Mary at the Royal meeting, but Boughey views the extra furlong of the Albany Stakes as a more suitable target for Soprano – a race in which the trainer’s subsequent 1000 Guineas heroine Cachet finished fifth in 2021.

Boughey said: “It’s always a case of first day at school and I do think she’ll step up for that. She was a bit green at one point, but she’s bred to get further and we thought that if she could get to the dip she’d come out of it really well.

“I was keen to come to the track earlier than we did with Cachet as they need to learn and she was still doing that there. She probably needs another run before (Royal Ascot), I don’t really know where but the Albany has got to be the plan. “

The Gatekeeper (100-30 favourite) galloped his rivals into submission in the Nyetimber Handicap under Andrea Atzeni, keeping enough up his sleeve from the front to score by a length from Star Of Orion.

Owners Middleham Park Racing were completing a quickfire double following the victory of Shouldvebeenaring in the preceding King Charles II Stakes.

The Gatekeeper (centre) winning at Newmarket
The Gatekeeper (centre) winning at Newmarket (David Davies/PA)

The Gatekeeper’s trainer Charlie Johnston said: “Fair play to the the Middleham Park team as they’ve had to be very patient with this horse. He was a very talented two-year-old and missed the guts of two years through injury, so it’s great that they retained the faith and he’s paying them back in spades.

“After two furlongs I thought it was game over after they gave him an easy lead as we know he stays further. I thought if he was in front coming out of the dip he wasn’t going to get caught and his last furlong was his best furlong.

“He’s going to be flexible between seven furlongs and a mile and we’ll work back from the Buckingham Palace at Royal Ascot.”

And Johnston and Atzeni got in the double act themselves, when Outbreak (9-2 joint-favourite) took the concluding Race Horse Lotto Handicap.

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