Carry On Katie defied a dramatic drift in the betting to win the Group Two Peugeot Lowther Stakes with a record-breaking performance under Frankie Dettori at York yesterday.

And she is now best priced at 16-1 for the 2004 renewal of the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Having been on offer at even money earlier in the day, she drifted out to 3-1, but she never really gave her supporters a really anxious moment, making all the running and staying on strongly in the closing stakes to beat Badminton by two lengths.

The American-bred filly was completing a rare 'Gimcrack-Lowther' double by a trainer for Jeremy Noseda who had sent out Balmont to win the former race on Wednesday, and the Newmarket trainer said: ''It is a nice double to have.''

Balmont had set a two-year-old course record of one minute 11.07 seconds for the six furlongs, but his stable companion lowered it to 1min 10.67sec and when asked what the plans were now for Carry On Katie, he added: ''She sticks to six furlongs for the Group One Cheveley Park now - and she gets seven furlongs with no problem.

''She went absolutely fabulously in a blow-out the other day and we came here with plenty of confidence.''

Looking further ahead he said: ''It has been a good week.

"I am thrilled for her new owner Mohammed Rashid, it was a big investment on his behalf and I am glad it is beginning to pay off.

''It would be nice to think about the 1000 Guineas next year, but we will think about the Cheveley Park for now, and if we can do that (win it) I will be a very happy man - we only have one problem, that good filly of Mark Johnston's (Attraction) to lock horns with.''

And when asked if he had been concerned by the fact that Carry On Katie went out in the betting, he added: ''I wasn't worried what they (bookmakers) thought about her beforehand.

''I saw the betting, she is a free-running filly, there is no malice in her and she wants to get on with her job - she went to the start a little faster than ideal - I think they have seen her go down to the start very keen and taken a stand against her.''

Badminton's trainer Clive Brittain said: ''We are thrilled she ran very well, but things are always up in the air when you win a maiden first time--she is crying out for another furlong and we would have given the winner a real race over seven furlongs.

''We will head for a Group Three race now and leave the Group One the 1000 Guineas.''

Saeed bin Suroor's Mezzo Soprano picked up the winning thread to initiate a 19-1 double for Dettori in the Listed Galtres Stakes, and she may now be ready to take a step back up in class.

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor said: ''She hasn't been good enough to win a Group One so we dropped her in class to give her some confidence - we will find a Group Three race now over a mile and a half or further.''

And reflecting on the overall quality of his second season team, he went on: ''There are no stars in the three-year-olds, we have given them a chance in the big races and we have known more about them afterwards.

''So we have dropped them in class, but maybe in the future they will improve.''

In contrast to the feature Nunthorpe Stakes 35 minutes earlier won by the odds-on chance Oasis Dream, punters were left stunned when 33-1 chance Terfel won an exciting £45,00 Arriva Rated Stakes in the hands of Eddie Ahern.

Ahern said: ''That was great, this is my second winner since Jon Lees took over as my agent on Monday and I could not have wished for a better start.''

Only just over four lengths covered the first ten in the mile test, but staying on gamely through the final furlong Terfel held his nearest pursuer Ocean Victory by a head with Pentecost half a length away in third.

Winning trainer Michael Bell was at Folkestone.

But Terfel's owner/breeder Anne Yearley said: ''The papers did not give him a chance, but he did have a chance on form!

''I raced his mother (Montserrat), she was a very good two-year-old and won as a four-year-old, but she had to have bottomless ground.''