Gosden still upbeat as star Enable suffers just third career loss
Gosden targets King George after defeat
TRAINER John Gosden said Enable had been given the ‘perfect platform’ for the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot later this month despite suffering only the third defeat of her 16-race career in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown yesterday.
On her seasonal debut, the Frankie Dettori-ridden evens favourite gradually eroded the lead of pace-setting Ghaiyyath in the home straight, but never looked like hauling him in as the Charlie Appleby-trained runner won by two-and-a-quarter lengths. Enable finished a head in front of third-placed Japan.
Coral immediately eased Enable’s odds for the King George to 2-1 but she moved back into 7-4 favourite after hints from Appleby that a rematch at Ascot on July 25 was unlikely.
Gosden, who had earlier landed his first French Derby with Mishriff, said: ‘I was thrilled with Enable’s run. She was favourite but I was clear in my mind that as she was running for the first time since October, Ghaiyyath was the one to beat.
‘I had warned everybody that Sandown is a great track for frontrunners and if Ghaiyyath gets free, which he did, you are never going to get to him.
‘Enable has come with a lovely run. Frankie said in the last half furlong she tired. It is the perfect platform for the King George.
‘She enjoyed it and the zest is still there, but she is an older mare and it takes a lot more to get her ready to race.’
The Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October is the main focus of Enable’s season.
She won the race in 2017 and 2018 and there was a sense of ‘the one that got away’ when she was caught by Waldgeist while going for an historic third win last season, treading water in the final 100 yards on deep going.
It will not get any easier this year with 2019 Arc third, fourth and fifth – Sottsass, Japan and Magical – likely to line up again, and now Aidan O’Brien’s devastatingly impressive Oaks winner Love is in the mix, as is his Derby winner Serpentine.
So is Ghaiyyath, who under jockey William Buick was having his second race of the campaign yesterday, having won the Coronation Cup at Newmarket last month. He would not want the ground in Paris to be testing again – he was beaten more than 30 lengths in 10th last year – but the son of Dubawi has proved that he is a more physically robust performer this season. Previously, this wholehearted runner had needed time to recover between contests, but the Eclipse win came only a month after he galloped his rivals into the ground in the Coronation Cup.
Appleby said: ‘Last year we felt he was a potential Arc horse. Unfortunately, the ground went very soft, it was a strongly run race and it paid in the end.
‘Our plan was always to work back from another crack at the Arc. If Enable is in it, we’ll just have to take her on again. I felt she lost nothing in defeat.’
Ghaiyyath is 7-2 for the King George but Appleby hinted that the preferred option might be the International Stakes at York in August.
The Arc could also be a target for French Derby winner Mishriff, who survived a stewards’ enquiry to beat The Summit. Gosden said: ‘The most impressive part of his race was the last 100 metres.’