Enable and Dettori make history with surge to third King George victory
Enable #Enable
Enable swept aside her only two rivals here on Saturday to win a record third King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, ranging up to the front-running Sovereign halfway down the straight before leaving him standing with an exceptional turn of foot. The opposition was low on numbers but both opponents were previous Group One winners and her domination of both was absolute.
Two defeats – in last year’s Arc, when a win would probably have meant retirement, and then behind Ghaiyyath in the Eclipse – had punctured the aura of invincibility that had built up around Enable after 12 straight wins from May 2017, but there was never a moment here when the 4-9 favourite’s victory was in doubt. Dahlia (1973-74) and Swain (1997-98) were the only horses to win the race twice in its 69-year history before Enable joined them 12 months ago.
I love her, and it’s very sad that I’m only going to have her for another couple of months
Frankie Dettori
This was the 11th Group One win of Enable’s career, one more than the brilliant Frankel achieved in the same colours eight years ago and three short of Goldikova’s final total of 14, the all-time record for a horse trained in Europe. Dettori has been in the saddle for every top-level success, and she has now provided him with half a dozen more Group Ones than any horse in his long career.
“Japan was the horse to beat and if he wanted to follow me, I had no problems with that,” Frankie Dettori, Enable’s jockey, said afterwards. “She’s no spring chicken at six so to put up a performance like that is great. She’s so consistent and I love her, and it’s very sad that I’m only going to have her for another couple of months.”
With a record third King George now under her girth, all thoughts will now turn towards Longchamp in Paris on the first weekend in October, when Enable will attempt to round off her career with another unprecedented achievement: a third win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
She is certain to face not just more but also better opponents in Paris than she did on Saturday, with the field expected to include both Love, the brilliant winner of the Oaks earlier this month, and Ghaiyyath, who beat Enable at Sandown Park the same weekend. The outstanding stayer Stradivarius, also trained by John Gosden, is another possible rival.