The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Enable looks hard to oppose
Gosden star aiming to become first three-time winner
can set yet another benchmark by becoming the first threetime winner of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot.
Successful in 2017, Enable enjoyed an unforgettable tussle with Crystal Ocean in this event last year, eventually emerging a neck victor after a race for the ages.
She then rolled on to the Yorkshire Oaks, and it looked as though an unprecedented third Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe win was hers too until Waldgeist swooped in the last 50 yards.
Owner Khalid Abdullah sportingly decided to roll the dice again this term as a six-year-old, and trainer John Gosden has made no secret of the fact the mare has been harder to get race ready as she has got older.
It certainly looked as though she would improve for the run after she finished two and a quarter lengths behind Ghaiyyath in defence of her Eclipse title at the start of the month, when she outstayed the re-opposing Japan for runner-up honours by a head.
Some may have been disappointed with that defeat, because she was an evens favourite, but Ghaiyyath should not be under-estimated and he arrived with two runs already in the bank this year, including victory over Anthony
Van Dyck in the Coronation Cup.
Back at 12 furlongs, Enable should be in her comfort zone in what could be a tactically fascinating race, with Frankie Dettori the best around in such an instance.
SAEIQA can make it a double for Gosden and Dettori in the BetfredTV Pat Eddery Stakes, which looks a perfect opportunity to get off the mark.
Third on his initial outing at Newmarket, Saeiqa was sent off a 25-1 shot in the Coventry and made late progress to take third, just over two lengths down on the shock winner Nando Parrado.
Gosden’s charge never really looked like winning, but, given the way he stayed on, the decision to switch up to seven furlongs in this Listed heat looks an obvious move.