ENABLE JOINS THE ALL-TIME GREATS WITH TURF VICTORY
TRAINER John Gosden has insisted Enable made history here at the Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky on Saturday despite being short of her best.
Figures produced by both British and international handicappers indicate the level of performance produced by the filly owned and bred by Khalid Abdullah has not matched the heights she reached in 2017.
But having overcome a knee injury and a minor illness blip in the countdown to the successful defence of her Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe crown at Longchamp last month, Enable managed to break the hoodoo of Arc winners at the Breeders’ Cup with a thrilling win from Aidan O’Brien’s Magical in the $4million Turf.
Three-quarters of a length separated the pair after a duel up the home straight, with Sadler’s Joy nine lengths back in third.
Gosden reflected: ‘We have had a difficult run. She is still not back to where she was last year in my opinion. But she has managed to come here and show her class.’
Enable has now won 10 of her 11 races, eight of them at Group One level, as well as more than £8million in prize-money. She has also won in four different countries — England, France, Ireland and the US.
Fittingly, Enable’s historic win came on the 100th Breeders’ Cup ride for Frankie Dettori, who also secured a victory on Michael Stoute’s Expert Eye in the Mile.
The jockey, who now has 14 Breeders’ Cup wins, said of Enable: ‘She found it difficult but she is a superstar. She had every chance to throw in the towel but kept battling.’
There was no glory for the European raiders in the Classic, where Saeed bin Suroor’s Thunder Snow fared best in running a gallant third to home favourite Accelerate.
Mendelssohn was far from disgraced for O’Brien, but the Gosden-trained Roaring Lion did not enjoy the experience of dirt and heads for deserved retirement after a magnificent season.
The international circus moves on to Australia, where the Melbourne Cup is run tomorrow morning. Ten of the 24 runners represent British or Irish stables, including O’Brien’s trio The Cliffsofmoher, Yucatan and Rostropovich.