Racing Ascot
Frankie Dettori steers supermare Enable to a record-breaking third King George victory for trainer John Gosden
IT may have been a by-product of Enable’s owner/breeder’s desire to have one last crack at winning a record third Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but the
supermare wrote her own page in British racing’s history books by becoming the first horse to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes three times, on Saturday, 25 July.
Disappointingly, only four were declared for the £400,000 race and only three ran after last year’s Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck was taken out overnight with a poor blood picture.
The small field was probably a combination of this strange year – particularly with the Derby having been run only three weeks before, ruling out many three-year-olds – and the fact that the best mileand-a-half horses are all concentrated in two yards from John Gosden and Aidan O’Brien.
However, history is unlikely to recall how many the Gosdentrained Enable beat in her third King George and it should not detract from her achievement either. Sovereign set a solid gallop, opening up a six-length lead out of Swinley Bottom, but half a mile out jockey William Buick was sending out distress signals.
Turning in, Frankie Dettori on Enable was motionless. The mare was ready to pounce and, if anything, they were getting there too soon. But a little look over his left shoulder told Dettori all he wanted to know – that the silence behind him was not because Ryan Moore on Japan was stalking him, but because the eventual thirdplaced pair was in trouble.
When Dettori kicked on the daughter of Nathaniel – owned by Khalid Abdullah and bred at his Juddmonte Farms – just inside the two-furlong pole, the result was as breathtaking as it was instant.
In a heartbeat, she had the race won by 5½ lengths and whatever had lined up against her – Love, Serpentine, Sottsass or Santiago – I’m not sure that any of them would have lived with that turn of foot on Saturday. Indeed, if she turns up in that sort of form again at Longchamp in October, she will once again be the horse to beat.
Victory gave her an 11th Group One (one more than Frankel) and for Dettori, who is quite open about being nervous before he rides her, it was a seventh King George win, equalling Lester Piggott’s tally.
“ENORMOUS MENTAL STRENGTH”
ENABLE is now up there with some of the all-time greats and not just fillies either. Both Gosden and Dettori spoke about the mare with the “big ears and the can-do attitude” with great affection.
“She won it very nicely,” said Gosden. “Frankie gave her one flick – the older horses get more professional and think, ‘Well, I have gone two or three lengths clear, I’ll ease up now,’ and you never quite know if another horse will come at you.
“Enable has enormous mental strength. You have some horses who just want to please and she just loves going out. When Prince Khalid talked to me last year about keeping her in training for one more year, I said that she adores training – if she doesn’t go out first lot, she gets annoyed that she has to wait.”
The trainer added: “She loves
going out there and carries herself magnificently, she is a very proud ‘person’. I think to that extent she has made my job possible. If she wasn’t enjoying it or if it was becoming a hardship, we would pull stumps immediately and wouldn’t dream of carrying on, but she is up for it and loves it.
“We are clear that we have
York in our minds. She will be entered in both races up there – the Juddmonte International and the Darley Yorkshire Oaks – all being well.”
The winning jockey said:
“John has done a great job keeping her going as a six-yearold. Three King Georges had never been done before and now we have to try the impossible and go for three Arcs.
“What a horse, I love her so much – she is my favourite
“She loves going out there and carries herself magnificently”
girl. She is amazing and made it all look so easy. She is no spring chicken, so to put up a performance like that is great.
“The hardest bit for John and the team is to get her interested in the mornings because when she comes to raceday, she comes alive. It took longer to get her fit this season and today you saw the finished article. We have a massive dream to try and win a third Arc, so fingers crossed.”
Dettori added: “She has got this amazing presence and these massive ears. She walks with her chest sticking out and you can see it – she gives those vibes to everyone and people are attached to her for that reason.
“And I get the privilege to ride her and the public are actually riding with me. We really need to cherish these special horses.”