English handler John Gosden has stated his Cazoo Oaks favourite this afternoon Emily Upjohn may be in the same league as his first winner in the race, Taghrooda.
The unbeaten Sea The Stars filly following up victory on her only start as a two year old with wins at Sandown Park in April and in the Tattersalls Musidora Stakes at York last month.
Gosden, whose training license is with his son Thady, has three Oaks winners to his name – Taghrooda in 2014, Enable in 2017 and Anapurna in 2019.
Asked to compare Emily Upjohn to his three previous winners, Gosden said:
“I think she is in the Taghrooda league. It would be silly to start talking about Enable as that would be completely over the top.
“It is her ability to travel and quicken over a trip that reminds me of Taghrooda. She is a big girl and she was immature and wasn’t ready to run until later in the year.”
Explaining his reasons for bringing Emily Upjohn to Epsom Downs to experience the unique track for the recent Cazoo Derby Gallops Morning, Gosden stated:
“Frankie (Dettori, jockey) felt that for a filly who has had three races in her life it would be nice to come here and just have a look and feel of the track, which is all that you are doing as you are not trying to do any exploratory work.
“She behaved great, moved very well, got her leads right coming down the hill and quickened up nicely. I think she will come on a lot for that mentally. She is not a filly who raced a lot at two as she only had the one run at Wolverhampton, but you can see by the size of the frame of her why we were patient.
“She has filled out well and she has rather enjoyed her morning out here. I would hope she has got the speed for the Oaks as she has shown an ability to quicken. The other day in the Musidora she quickened well there at York.
“She did it well at Wolverhampton and at Sandown she sat very handy, then lengthened off the front. She has a change of gear.”
