Feed The Flame ran out a stylish last-to-first winner of the Grand Prix de Paris at ParisLongchamp, denying Adelaide River and Soul Sister in a thrilling finish.

Dropped right out by Cristian Demuro, the Pascal Bary-trained Kingman colt had last been seen finishing fourth to Ace Impact in the Prix du Jockey Club over an extended 10 furlongs and was supplemented for this mile-and-a-half feature.

Racing more in mid-division were Aidan O’Brien’s Adelaide River – runner-up to Auguste Rodin in the Irish Derby – and John and Thady Gosden’s Oaks heroine Soul Sister.

When Ryan Moore elected to make his move on Adelaide River it looked like Kieran Shoemark had him covered on Soul Sister, but as the pair locked in battle Feed The Flame was produced to perfection by Demuro to run them both down.

A length was the winning margin from Adelaide River, with Soul Sister just behind in third.

Kieran Shoemark is relishing the opportunity to partner Oaks heroine Soul Sister in the Grand Prix de Paris at ParisLongchamp on Friday evening.

The 27-year-old, who won his first Group One aboard Lady Bowthorpe in 2021, is enjoying a fine season riding 33 winners so far, including a Group Three aboard Vadream earlier in the campaign.

With Soul Sister’s usual partner Frankie Dettori suspended and many other big-name riders required at Newmarket’s July Festival, he has the chance to continue his good run in the saddle having received the call up from John and Thady Gosden for the plum ride aboard their Epsom scorer.

It is a great opportunity for the jockey to showcase his talent on the biggest stage and at a venue where he has enjoyed some of his best days in the saddle.

He followed up his win aboard Dreamloper in the Prix d’Ispahan in the French capital with a double at the track last September when Dreamloper claimed the Prix du Moulin and West Wind Blows won the Prix du Prince d’Orange.

“I’m very much looking forward to it,” said Shoemark. “I like Longchamp and the filly has been very impressive to date and I’m very fortunate I have been given this opportunity and I can’t wait to take it.

“I couldn’t quite believe it myself, but timings have kind of worked out with good racing being on at Newmarket and Frankie Dettori being suspended and it was just being in the right place at the right time.

“I’ve had quite a lot of luck at Longchamp, so hopefully that continues.”

Eight head to post for the 12-furlong Group One and although Soul Sister may be the sole British interest, Aidan O’Brien fields Irish Derby second and fourth, Adelaide River and Peking Opera, as he tries to add to his impressive record in the race.

Shoemark is extremely respectful of the Ballydoyle challenge and has the Curragh runner-up Adelaide River as one of Soul Sister’s chief dangers, as well as Pascal Bary’s Feed The Flame, who was visually impressive in his first two starts before claiming fourth place in the Prix du Jockey Club.

“I thought Adelaide River ran a huge race in the Irish Derby and the French horse Feed The Flame was a gallant fourth in the French Derby,” added Shoemark.

“It’s a competitive field and we’re getting 3lb off the colts. This is a tough task and it is the first time a filly has ran in the race for 10 years, so it is something that doesn’t happen very often. But John and Thady Gosden have her in good order and hopefully we go there with a good chance.”

Andre Fabre is the race’s leading trainer and will bid to add to his tally with Prix Hocquart winner First Minister, while others representing the home team include Prix du Lys first and second, Rubis Vendome and Silawi, and Winter Pudding who is the mount of recent Prix Jean Prat-winner Stephane Pasquier.

Plans remain fluid for Soul Sister following her Betfred Oaks triumph at Epsom last week.

Disappointing in a soft ground Fred Darling at Newbury on her three-year-old debut, the Frankel filly bounced back with a surprise victory in the Musidora Stakes at York last month.

Soul Sister proved that was no fluke by clinching Classic glory on the Surrey Downs a week ago under Frankie Dettori and she holds an entry in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot.

However, while joint-trainer Thady Gosden reports the three-year-old to have taken her Epsom exertions well, connections have not got as far as finalising the next plan of attack.

“She’s come out of it well. Obviously every Classic is a hard race, but she seems happy and well in herself at home,” said Gosden.

“We’ll see how she is, but it was fantastic to win the Oaks with her.”

On the other side of the coin there was disappointment for the Gosden team ahead of the Oaks, with their other leading contender Running Lion withdrawn on veterinary advice just seconds before the off after kicking the back gate of the starting stalls.

The daughter of Roaring Lion is set to bid for compensation and redemption in the French equivalent, the Prix de Diane, at Chantilly on Sunday week.

“It was obviously frustrating with Running Lion, it was sort of a freak event really. The plan is for her to go to France, I think,” Gosden added.

There comes a point when you think Frankie Dettori is writing his own scripts. And we are surely approaching that now, after the magical Italian added the Betfred Oaks on Soul Sister to the 2000 Guineas he won on Chaldean, begging the question ‘why retire?’.

Just for good measure Dettori also won the day’s other Group One contest at Epsom, the Dahlbury Coronation Cup, with Emily Upjohn – and ended the afternoon as favourite to be crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Both winners were trained by John and Thady Gosden.

There were joyous scenes following both victories. Dettori was delighted to have won the Coronation Cup for the Lloyd Webbers, part-owners of the filly and long-standing patrons at the Gosden yard, after she was so narrowly denied in the Oaks 12 months ago.

And while Group Ones are not to be sniffed at, especially in your final year, it is the Classics the game is built around and for what jockeys are really remembered.

This was Dettori’s seventh Oaks to go with four wins each in the 1000 and 2000 Guineas, six St Legers and two Derbys – more of that later.

“Emily was incredible, I didn’t expect that. Then in the Oaks – she’s a good filly,” said the 52-year-old.

Listening to Dettori explaining his thought process through a race is like a teaching from a master, and he clearly still gets a great kick out of it.

He said: “It was a bit messy in the beginning and she took a while to organise, I had to bite the bullet. She jumped good and I was looking for somebody’s wheel to follow as I didn’t want to be stuck wide.

“I wanted to slot in behind Ryan (Moore, on favourite Savethelastdance), but William (Buick, on Eternal Hope) was there before me. I thought with Oisin (Murphy, on the withdrawn Running Lion) out of the way the ones to beat were Ryan and William, so I parked myself behind William to get her to relax.

“Nearly out of Tattenham Corner William’s horse just dived in front of me so I thought, given she only had a little experience, if I went wide at least I would have clean air.”

He went on: “I then had to avoid the other pacemaker and swing even wider and the Connor (Beasley on Caernarfon) came upsides me.

“I didn’t ask for my filly’s ultimate effort and I was telling myself to bide my time, I sat quiet between the three (furlong marker) and the one and a half and then I was just hoping if I pressed the button she’d go. And she did go! It was good relief. The track wasn’t to her liking, but she showed so much class.”

Of course, there has been no bigger showman in racing since Dettori came over to England from Italy in the late 1980s and just a few years later he was a household name.

Quite what the sport will do to fill the void when he retires later this is still up for debate. He remains the biggest marketing tool out there by a long way and the publicity of his farewell season, with him still at the top of his game, cannot be bought.

“I was able to enjoy the screaming of all of the crowd and I couldn’t believe I’d won another Oaks! I was able to enjoy it and I loved it as I knew I’d won,” he said.

“Usually when you win the Oaks they give you an oak tree, the last one I got for Snowfall my dog decided to play with it and ripped it around the garden, so I could do with a new tree!

“When I passed them all I knew as I’d come from the back, I knew there was nobody behind me. You don’t get many opportunities to celebrate like that – maybe with Snowfall who was 20 lengths clear – but all the owners are here and all the gang so to go home and say I’ve done a 100 per cent job is great.”

However good the Oaks is, one race above all others in Flat racing is king. The Betfred Derby may be under well-documented threat from animal rights protesters, but if Frankie Dettori has his way there will an Arrest of a different kind on the front pages.

“At the moment things are going well, but you can easily mess up in this game! Five months is a long time,” he said when asked why he was calling it a day.

“If I stay one more year I might get close to Lester’s (Piggott) 30 (Classics) – I’m joking! It’s mental, it’s incredible. I’ve had three good rides this weekend, Emily, Soul Sister and Arrest. To get two in the bag with one to go is incredible, I’m very excited about tomorrow. John’s horses, as you can see, are on fire and let’s hope it continues to tomorrow.”

Frankie Dettori’s farewell season continues to provide big-race winners and the Italian could have found himself the perfect partner for the Betfred Oaks as Soul Sister romped to Tattersalls Musidora Stakes victory at York.

A winner on debut at Doncaster at two, the John and Thady Gosden-trained daughter of Frankel was never involved in the Fred Darling when making her return to the track at Newbury last month.

However, she thrived for the step up to 10 furlongs in this renowned Epsom trial and having been ridden patiently as the main protagonists of Infinite Cosmos, Gather Ye Rosebuds and Novakai were all prominent in the early stages, no filly was travelling better as the runners straightened for home.

Still to ask his mount for maximum effort as the rest of the field came under a drive, Dettori soon pushed the button and the response was immediate with the 18-1 winner storming clear of her rivals to record a clear-cut four-length success.

The Gosdens and Dettori combined to win this with Emily Upjohn 12 months ago before being narrowly denied at Epsom and Soul Sister is now a 5-1 chance with Coral and 4-1 with both Betfair and Paddy Power to hit the target in the fillies’ Classic on June 2.