show me:

Enable team enjoying the ride ahead of Yorkshire Oaks

3 minute read

Connections of all-conquering filly Enable are in no rush to compare her to Frankel just yet but are already in "wonderful territory" ahead of Thursday's Darley Yorkshire Oaks.

Enable Picture: Pat Healy Photography

Winner of the English and Irish Oaks, she stamped herself as out of the ordinary when beating the boys in the King George at Ascot.

Her trainer John Gosden also managed the feat with Taghrooda three years ago and she turned up for this race as a long-odds on favourite - but was turned over by Tapestry.

"We are not into Frankel territory, but we are into a wonderful territory," said Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for owner Khalid Abdullah.

"In all the big races everything has to go right, it doesn't matter who or what you are. If you don't bring your 'A Game' then, no matter how good you are, you are not going to win.

"That is the hardest thing for people outside racing to understand. They are not machines and you can't just change the tyres, fill up the oil, or whatever. When a horse is on form it always looks like smooth clockwork, but getting them to the races and in the best shape of mind is not an easy thing to do."

It was briefly considered Enable could run in the race sponsored by her owner, the Juddmonte International, but not for long.

"We like to look at all the options and it came under consideration," Grimthorpe said.

"We might have had another look had the ground come up extreme but, realistically, the Yorkshire Oaks was always the main aim.

"Touch wood, Enable has taken it all very well so far. She handles herself well under pressure, which is always a good sign. In the preliminaries she's well collected and within herself, which is important before a big race."

In what is another leg of the Qipco British Champions Series, Gosden also runs Coronet, winner of the Ribblesdale at Royal Ascot but rated some 18lb inferior to her stablemate.

Sir Michael Stoute has won the race nine times previously and also fields two smart fillies in Breeders' Cup winner Queen's Trust and Abingdon.

Queen's Trust is owned by Cheveley Park Stud, and their managing director Chris Richardson said: "She was not beaten far at Goodwood, but she didn't pick up and she had been struck into behind and had a little cut so there were a couple of little excuses.

"Once again she missed the break and poor old Jim (Crowley) was left sitting out the back.

"He got a bit squeezed up and take nothing away from the winner, but she didn't perhaps have the luck in running. I am sure she will have her day again, but the ground for her is a major factor."

Aidan O'Brien's Alluringly steps back up in class having recently won a Listed race at Gowran. She finished behind Enable at Chester in May and in the Epsom Oaks.

Perhaps Enable's biggest threat will come from Roger Varian's Nezwaah, a clear-cut winner of the Pretty Polly in Ireland last time out.