'I couldn't be more pleased with them' - Gosdens double-handed in Oaks as Running Lion given Classic green light

John and Thady Gosden are poised to be double-handed in the Betfred Oaks after it was confirmed impressive Pretty Polly winner Running Lion will join Musidora scorer Soul Sister at Epsom on Friday week.

Gosden snr had been hesitant to commit Running Lion to the longer mile and a half trip of the Classic after her Newmarket victory, but took the daughter of Roaring Lion for a test run at Epsom on Monday, where she worked over seven furlongs with Forest Of Dean.

Soul Sister is the 10-3 second favourite and Running Lion is next in the betting at 8-1.

“Both fillies won their trials with authority, so they very much deserve their place in the line-up and I couldn't be more pleased with them," he said.

“Stamina-wise you never really know until you go the mile and a half. Everybody thinks this is a downhill track, but it’s uphill, it rises 150 feet before you start going downhill, then you have a last section which climbs before the finish and it can catch a lot out on stamina."

Running Lion: Oisin Murphy prepares his mount for a racecourse gallopCredit: Edward Whitaker

If the Oaks turns out to be too far, Gosden did not rule out running either filly in the Prix de Diane just 16 days later. He said: “We were very happy to come here [with Running Lion], she’s taken the race well and I’ve managed to run in the Oaks and the Prix de Diane before. We’ve won the Prix de Diane once nine days later and once 14 days or so later, so you can run in both and it isn’t impossible."

Good to firm could feature in Derby going

The big question mark hanging over their stablemate and Chester Vase winner Arrest, as he galloped at Epsom with next weekend's Betfred Derby fast approaching, is the ground.

He won over 1m4½f on soft ground at Chester and Gosden accepted he would have no complaints if the ground at Epsom in 12 days' time is as it was on Monday. But clerk of the course Andrew Cooper suspects good to firm could sneak into the going description.

Cooper said: "If we'd been racing today I'd have said it was good, and in the short-term we'll try and keep it there. We only watered for the first time on Musidora day as it's been such a wet spring, we had the wettest March we've recorded. We put on 20mm last week, and it will probably take 25mm a week to keep it there as we have a dry and warm forecast.

"We'd look to have it around good come Friday morning as it can dry out and it's a tricky layout to water overnight, so we try to avoid that. We try not to let the ground get any quicker than good to firm for the Derby but it could certainly get to good to firm in places if the forecast stays as it is."

John and Thady Gosden with Frankie Dettori at EpsomCredit: Edward Whitaker

That is unlikely to delight Gosden, who said: “It’s good ground and if you have good ground like that, nobody can complain. I was here for the first meeting of the season and I’ve never seen it so heavy. Luckily it’s not like that and we don’t want to see a Derby like that, we want to see a race where horses with a turn of foot can show it."

And for all Arrest is a strong stayer, Gosden believes his charge possesses the turn of foot for a race like the Derby. “He can change gears, absolutely," he said. "He’s a big boy and he proved he stayed at Chester when he handled the conditions. He doesn’t need it to be like that."

Gosden brought Arrest, who worked with Harrovian, to Epsom for what he described as "very much an exercise gallop and not a test of ability", as he wanted the colt to familiarise himself with Tattenham Corner and the camber.

Gosden could run last year's Oaks runner-up Emily Upjohn, who skipped a trip to Dubai as it came too soon, in the Dahlbury Coronation Cup. He said: “We’ll leave her in the Coronation Cup and she worked nicely over the weekend. Obviously she was just beaten in the Oaks last year, but she’s in good form and we’ll definitely leave her in that race.

“I think it’s been a bit of a muddling first part of the season with the cold, wet weather. To that extent she was very much taking her time but she seems to be coming to herself now. It looks like Westover will be there so it will be a really solid race."

Betfred Oaks (4.30 Epsom, June 2)

Paddy Power: 5-4 Savethelastdance, 3 Soul Sister, 8 Running Lion, 10 Infinite Cosmos, Never Ending Story, Warm Heart, 12 Bluestocking, 25 bar

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