WILLING & ABLE
Enable thunders home to repel hotpot Rhododendron in Oaks
ENABLE and Frankie Dettori stayed strong through the storm to lift the Investec Oaks as odds-on favourite Rhododendron wilted.
In a fillies’ Classic run against a dramatic backdrop of thunderous skies and forked lightning, Cheshire Oaks heroine looked quarry for 8-11 hotpot Rhododendron as Ryan Moore ranged up on the 1,000 Guineas runnerup with a quarter of a mile to run.
But, while the market leader’s stamina began to ebb, 6-1 shot Enable galloped on stoutly to register a five-length win, with Alluringly, who had finished second to Enable at Chester, back in third.
“When I saw Ryan wasn’t moving alongside me, I thought I was in trouble,” admitted Dettori, winning the Oaks for the fourth time.
“But once I saw his distress signals coming, I knew my filly would stay right to the end.
“Conditions were not nice. Horses hear the bangs and they get scared – I got scared! – but she was brave.”
John Gosden, lifting the Oaks for the second time, revealed: “Ryan said he was impressed by our filly when she beat him [on Alluringly] at Chester.
“He said, ‘Boy she quickened, and she quickened again.’ Ryan Moore never gives away much, especially a compliment!
“It was all a bit Hollywood with the flash of lightning over the stalls and driving rain.
“They fought hard all the way up the straight. From the three to the one, I thought we were in trouble, then I saw Enable come through.” Gosden’s previous Oaks heroine, Taghrooda, went on to beat the colts in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes in July 2014, and the trainer added: “She’s in the Taghrooda class – we might want to take in the King George.” Lying in wait at the royal racecourse will be Highland Reel (left), who had earlier made all the running to capture the Group 1 Coronation Cup from the fast-finishing Frontiersman. O’Brien’s Friday runners had been delayed by a fault with their plane leaving Ireland, but the Ballydoyle trainer, registering his eight triumph in the race, said: “What happened was unavoidable, but he’s an amazing horse.”