ENABLE ECLIPSED BY SUPER GHAIYY
Appleby star steals show from Enable at Sandown
GHAIYYATH put his fitness edge to good use to inflict a rare defeat on the returning Enable in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.
While queen of the turf Enable was having her first outing since running second to Waldgeist in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last October, Godolphin’s globetrotter Ghaiyyath had the benefit of victories in Dubai and in last month’s Coronation Cup at Newmarket to bring him to concert pitch. After watching the five-yearold andWill Buick make all for a two-and-aquarter-length margin, trainer Charlie Appleby, celebrating his 45th birthday, said: “We always had immense respect for Enable.It was a good battle. “He’s been an emphatic winner in France, Germany and out in Dubai this winter but, for the British public, he gained a lot of fans and support after the Coronation Cup.” Ghaiyyath is set to stay at a mile and a quarter for the Juddmonte International at York on August 19, with another Arc bid – after he beat just two home in Paris last autumn – also on the agenda. “The plan was always to work back from another crack at the Arc, and were Enable to be in it, we will just have to take her on again,” added Appleby.
Enable, winner of Europe’s middle-distance championship in 2017 and 2018, and Frankie Dettori will seek a hat-trick in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot a fortnight on Saturday.
“She ran a gorgeous race,” said the six-year-old mare’s handler John Gosden. “Frankie said the last half a furlong she just needed it.
“Her zest and desire is still there – trying to get involved with a front-running horse like Ghaiyyath today was never going to be ideal – but she has run the most perfect race to point towards the King George.”
Gosden had the satisfaction of winning the Prix du Jockey Club for the first time as Mishriff survived a stewards’ inquiry to keep the prize.
Donnacha O’Brien won a Classic in his first season with a licence at the age of 21 as Fancy Blue denied Alpine Star for an Irish 1-2-3 in the Prix de Diane.
“The home straight felt like a lifetime,” O’Brien said.