John Gosden is looking forward to the rest of the campaign with Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) despite the mare suffering the third defeat of her career on her seasonal bow in Sunday’s Coral-Eclipse at Sandown. A third G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe win remains her ultimate target in the autumn and she satisfied her trainer when second to Charlie Appleby’s Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) over a trip short of her optimum. However, Gosden believes Enable could face a tricky task at ParisLongchamp in October should G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas and G1 Investec Oaks winner Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) be in opposition, with the 6-year-old having to concede 7lb to her younger rival.
“She took it well, she had a good blow after the race,” said Gosden. “It’s always a worry when you haven’t run since October and she was coming back as a 6-year-old mare, but I thought her demeanour was wonderful. If you are a stock man and work with animals, you get used to them and I could feel and see that her metabolism had changed as she’s got older. She’s finding it hard to get tight, the race will have helped, but you can’t keep trying to do it at home.”
Looking towards the rest of the season, Gosden told At The Races, “The [July 25G1 ] King George would be the plan. We were lucky the Eclipse was only one day late because of everything, so we’ll look towards the King George, then York [Aug. 20 G1 Yorkshire Oaks] and Paris. I don’t want to over-race her.
“A third Arc would be an extraordinary achievement. This year you’ve got to look at the 3-year-olds. For me there was one outstanding 3-year-old performance in Europe and that was by a certain filly in the Oaks [Love].
“You start taking on a filly like that giving them weight, you’ve got a whole new problem on your hands. I think the Oaks winner would have won the Derby–the only thing that would get in her way was if it turned soft or heavy. She’s the standout 3-year-old.”
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Enable’s owner-breeder Khalid Abdullah, also expressed his satisfaction with the mare’s performance.
He said, “The expectation on her is enormous–we understand that. We’re really pleased with her and she’s come out of the race well. I think we made it pretty clear she would improve for the run. You’re rather damned if you do and damned if you don’t, as if she’d won easily everyone would have said we’d put people away and then if she’s beaten, people say we’re starting to make excuses already.
“I’m sure if Prince Khalid is happy that [King George] is where she’ll be going next, all being well.”
Gosden enjoyed Classic success at the weekend as Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) put up an excellent display to claim the G1 Prix du Jockey Club.
“He was impressive and quickened up very nicely,” said Gosden. “I think we’ll look to keep him against 3-year-olds as 10 furlongs looks his trip for now and there appears to be some decent older ones around, as we saw at Sandown yesterday. The [Aug. 15] Prix Guillaume d’Ornano which is a Group 2 for which Group 1 winners don’t carry a penalty looks suitable.”
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