Nathaniel's Enable Makes All In the Yorkshire Oaks

Taking her one-woman show to York on Thursday, Khalid Abdullah's latest A-lister Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) was understandably 1-4 for the G1 Darley Yorkshire Oaks with a trio of huge triumphs already behind her. While it is one thing being that price on the formbook, it is another to perform consistently as a cut above in this grade and the remarkable homebred made it easy for connections and backers alike as she remained in domineering mood. Frankie Dettori was unwilling to relinquish a yard of advantage after she broke with trademark enthusiasm and with only Queen's Trust (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in shouting distance throughout she had a relatively straightforward task traversing the Knavesmire with only the wide expanse in front of her. At the line, she was able to enjoy a familiar five-length winning cushion back to another hard-working runner-up, which this time was her stablemate and fellow 3-year-old Coronet (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). “She got a bit bored at the end and I felt I had something left if something had come to me,” her rider commented. “If you try and keep up with her, she'll break your lungs–she is a very competitive filly. So far, she's one of the best I've ridden and she will go to the Arc with a favourite's chance. I'll wait until the Arc to say whether she's the best.”

Thursday, York, Britain
DARLEY YORKSHIRE OAKS-G1, £350,000, YOR, 8-24, 3yo/up, f, 11f 188yT, 2:35.79, g/s.
1–ENABLE (GB), 124, f, 3, by Nathaniel (Ire)
1st Dam: Concentric (GB) (SW & GSP-Fr, $117,776), by Sadler's Wells
2nd Dam: Apogee (GB), by Shirley Heights (GB)
3rd Dam: Bourbon Girl, by Ile de Bourbon
O-Khalid Abdullah; B-Juddmonte Farms Ltd (GB); T-John Gosden; J-Lanfranco Dettori. £198,485. Lifetime Record: 7-6-0-1, $1,787,037. *1/2 to Contribution (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}), MGSP-Fr. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Coronet (GB), 124, f, 3, Dubawi (Ire)–Approach (GB), by Darshaan (GB). O/B-Denford Stud Ltd (GB); T-John Gosden. £75,250.
3–Queen's Trust (GB), 133, f, 4, Dansili (GB)–Queen's Best (GB), by King's Best. O/B-Cheveley Park Stud Ltd (GB); T-Sir Michael Stoute. £37,660.
Margins: 5, 3/4, HD. Odds: 0.25, 16.00, 12.00.
Also Ran: Nezwaah (GB), Alluringly, Abingdon. Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Following Wednesday's G1 Juddmonte International, Enable's reputation was continuing skywards as the older colt she put 4 1/2 lengths into in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. was beating up the best of the 3-year-old members of his sex. Whatever the ground conditions at Ascot July 29, it still takes some mettle to distance a runner of the calibre of Ulysses (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), especially coming just two weeks after a command performance in a G1 Irish Oaks staged on an unusually quick surface for The Curragh. Looking back to her defeat of Alluringly (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the May 10 Listed Cheshire Oaks, it is hard to believe how much she has grown in stature in just 15 weeks that has seen her prevail in a total of four Oaks including the June 2 Epsom Classic where Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) was the first to feel her wrath. Using Alluringly as a measurement of Enable's progress, what was a 1 3/4-length margin between them at Chester became 11 at Epsom, 12 1/2 at The Curragh and now 15 here.

With the memory of the shock eclipse of the stable's Epsom Oaks and King George heroine Taghrooda (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) in this in 2014 still fresh, there must have been an element of worry in John Gosden's mind despite all the evidence suggesting Enable was home and hosed. Dettori was refusing to entertain any notion of an upset and his positivity from the outset fed back to the beautiful specimen he wrenched himself back into action for after his injury in June. By the end of the home turn, it was not yet clear that Queen's Trust was a spent force and for a few strides the Cheveley Park homebred looked as if she could strike a blow but that proved ultimately short-lived as Enable continued her remorseless drive onwards. Last year's GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine Queen's Trust paid late for being the closest pursuer to the winner throughout and lost second to TDN Rising Star and G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Coronet, who ran a fine trial for the St Leger if connections opt to go that way.

In her four successes at the highest level, which boast a cumulative margin of 20 lengths, Enable has put to the sword a total of 10 individual group 1 winners and it is difficult to envisage any of the Europeans stopping her in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in which she gets a generous weight-for-age and sex allowance. The unknown quantity Satono Diamond (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and stablemate Cracksman (GB) (Frankel {GB}) aside, the bay looks to have the measure of everything else and Gosden only has to keep her ticking over between now and then. “She got a little bit lonely, but she's done it beautifully,” he said. “It's proved she can do it from the front as well. She's somewhat special and I think at a mile and a half is the best filly I've ever trained. She would look Golden Horn in the eye and I don't know who'd win. She has worked on her own at times, but has never led a piece of work in her life. Noone wanted to make the running and so that worked well, but Frankie said she needed something to come to her. She's got a load of ability and when they have that there is no point in wrestling them–you need to let them do their own thing.”

Gosden revealed the pressure he had felt beforehand. “We had a lot to lose coming here–you all remember a horse called Taghrooda–but we let her use her stride and she has gone and won by five lengths and she can't do any more,” he added. “My only worry with her was going from Ireland to the King George, which was tight for me but Frankie came to sit on her in between and she spotted a pigeon in the bushes and whipped round and ditched him so that was a sign she was very full of herself. She took the King George well and was again very playful, so it would have been a shame for this fabulous meeting and this great race if she hadn't come here. Otherwise it would have meant a racecourse gallop and the timing between this and the Arc is lovely. We now have a nice two to three weeks of easy and will let her down a little bit and then bring her back up for October 1st. We don't need to run her in the [G1] Prix Vermeille [at Chantilly Sept. 10], but the second might go there. Coronet got lost in Ireland and didn't enjoy herself, but that was much more like it.”

Gosden also suggested that Enable could be around in 2018, although nothing has been discussed as yet. “Her owner-breeder's record proves that he really enjoys letting his horses race and I'll say no more than that,” he commented. “Frankie is very keen that she races on next year and her father won an Eclipse and was just beaten in a King George as a 4-year-old. It would be wonderful if she did, but that's entirely the owner's decision.”

Enable's dam Concentric was never tried over a mile and a half by Andre Fabre despite her stout breeding and managed to win the Listed Prix Charles Laffitte and finish runner-up in the G3 Prix de Flore in 2007. That trainer also took charge of her daughter Contribution who was placed in last year's G2 Prix de Pomone and G3 Prix Allez France and he handled much of the family including all of Apogee's black-type performers. They include the G3 Prix Thomas Bryon and G3 Prix du Chemin de Fer du Nord-winning sire Apsis (GB) and the G2 Prix de Royallieu winner and G1 Prix de Diane runner-up Dance Routine (GB) (Sadler's Wells), with the latter going on to throw the champion Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}). Runner-up twice in the Arc, he was one of a plethora of members of this dynasty who remained a potent force with age and experience and ended up champion grass horse in the US when winning the GI Sword Dancer on two occasions and the GI Manhattan S. as well as the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and G1 Hong Kong Vase. Enable has already put right the Classic near-misses of her third dam Bourbon Girl in the G1 English and Irish Oaks and has now gone two places better than she had done in this race 30 years ago. This solid family also features the G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly winner and G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud runner-up Daring Miss (GB) (Sadler's Wells), the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud-winning sire Spanish Moon and his full-sister Spanish Sun (El Prado {Ire}) who took the G2 Ribblesdale S. Concentric also has a 2-year-old colt by Dansili (GB) named Centroid (GB), a yearling filly also by that sire and a filly foal by Frankel (GB).