Oaks double the target for impressive Enable
The John Gosden-trained Enable will attempt to become the fifth filly since 2000 to complete the Epsomirish Oaks double when she heads to The Curragh on July 15.
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for owner Khalid Abdullah, said: “She has come out of the race really well and John Gosden is very pleased with her and she looks in good form.
“We will look towards the Irish Oaks now. The King George is a long way away and obviously we will look at the various options, but at the moment she will go for the Irish Oaks.”
While Grimthorpe was not surprised by the victory of Enable in the mile-and-a-half Group One last Friday, he was taken aback by the manner in which it was achieved, saying: “She showed a huge amount of class and ran unbelievably well to beat a top-class filly [Rhododendron].
“We expected a big run from her as we were confident that she would stay, so, to that extent, it was not a great surprise.
“If you win a Classic by five lengths, though, that has got to be very unexpected and is one for the very-pleasant-surprise box.”
Stablemate Shutter Speed will try to maintain her unbeaten record in the Prix de Diane at Chantilly on Sunday week after her impressive Musidora Stakes victory at York. Grimthorpe said: “Shutter Speed is in good shape. We have won four out of the five Oaks trials this season and, obviously, we have converted one. It would be nice now if we could convert another.”
Warren Greatrex reports One Track Mind to have impressed with his schooling ahead of Sunday’s French Champion Hurdle at Auteuil.
Greatrex said: “He has never jumped those type of hurdles out there, so it will be a learning curve, but we have given him plenty of schooling over similar hurdles at home and he has jumped well.”