Five lengths, five-and-a-half, four-and-a-half and now another five: Enable’s stroll through the midsummer Group One racing programme continued here on Thursday, and it is increasingly difficult to see it leading anywhere but the winner’s enclosure after the Arc. John Gosden’s filly made all the running to win the Yorkshire Oaks with any amount to spare, and is now a general even-money chance for Europe’s most prestigious race on 1 October.
The field lined up against Enable at Chantilly will be much deeper than the five opponents she dispatched at odds of 1-4 here, but as a three-year-old filly she will get a valuable weight allowance from colts and older horses as she attempts to become the sixth filly to win in the past seven seasons. The two three-year-olds in that sequence – Treve in 2013 and Danedream two years earlier – both finished five lengths clear of their fields. In her current form, Enable looks more than capable of doing something similar in five-and-a-half weeks’ time.
“She got a bit bored in the end,” Frankie Dettori, Enable’s jockey, said. “I pushed her out, but I felt I had something left if someone had come to me. She likes to have a fight on her hands; unfortunately today there was no fight and we had to do her own thing. She goes there [to the Arc] with a favourite’s chance and the weight allowance. She has won four Group Ones in a row by five lengths and you can’t ask for more than that.”
Gosden also felt that a stronger field would have brought an even better performance from his filly. “There was no obvious pace [in the race] so I said to Frankie that he could do his own thing,” the trainer said.
“She got lonely in the last part, she was looking around and idling. It’s not her favourite way of racing but she can do it that way. It was a lovely prep for the Arc, and it’s a nice run-in now. She’d be the best mile-and-a-half filly that I’ve trained. Golden Horn [the 2015 Derby and Arc winner] would be the best mile-and-a-half colt, I think [the four-times Group One winner] The Fugue was better at a mile-and-a-quarter, and Royal Heroine [the 1984 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner] at a mile, but that’s a long time ago.”
Gosden waited a long time to win his first Arc with Golden Horn, but is now effectively an odds-on chance to take his second in three years since Cracksman, the impressive winner of the Great Voltigeur Stakes on Wednesday, is the second-favourite for this year’s race at 10-1.
Sir Michael Stoute’s Ulysses, who took the International Stakes on the opening day, is also a 10-1 chance but not yet confirmed as a runner, while Satono Diamond, the latest Group One winner from Japan to try his luck in France, is the only other contender priced below 16-1.
Threading, a six-length maiden winner at Glorious Goodwood, made a smooth transition to Group company in the Lowther Stakes, the main supporting race on the card, and is now on course for the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes next month.
Happy Like A Fool, runner-up in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot, set a strong pace from the start but Threading travelled well in behind before storming into the lead inside the final furlong. “We wouldn’t have supplemented her [at a cost of £15,000] if we didn’t think she was up to it,” Mark Johnston, Threading’s trainer, said. “She pulled away at the finish and that bodes well for the future.
“She clearly doesn’t need fast ground, but I think it would be a mistake to pigeonhole her and say that she needs soft and it would be very interesting to see her on a sounder surface and see how she goes.”
Threading is top-priced at 20-1 for next year’s 1,000 Guineas in a market headed by Clemmie, a full sister to this year’s 2,000 Guineas winner Churchill, at 8-1.
The Irish Turf Club said on Thursday that Davy Russell will face a disciplinary hearing at noon on Saturday to consider an incident before a race at Tramore on 18 August when the jockey appeared to punch his mount, Kings Dolly. A panel will consider whether he is in breach of Rule 272(i), which covers actions “prejudicial to the integrity and proper conduct of horse racing”.
Friday’s tips, by Greg Wood
York 1.55 Al Neksh 2.25 St Michel 3.00 Daban 3.35 Battaash (nap) 4.15 Capital Flight 4.50 Starlight Romance
Newmarket 1.35 Expressiy 2.05 Soliloquy 2.40 Slow To Hand (nb) 3.15 Al Barg 3.45 Maratha 4.20 Dynamic 4.55 Melinoe 5.25 Muscika
Ffos Las 2.15 Lady Alavesa 2.50 Move Over 3.25 Casement 3.55 Frosting 4.30 Leapt 5.00 Kinglami 5.35 Lady Joanna Vassa
Goodwood 5.10 Island Cloud 5.45 Bowditch 6.15 Chai Chai 6.45 Sussex Ranger 7.15 Black Bess 7.45 Sheikspear
Hamilton 5.30 Kirbec 6.05 I’m Improving 6.35 Cliff Bay 7.05 Clon Coulis 7.35 Donnachies Girl 8.05 Perfect Words
Salisbury 5.15 McDelta 5.50 Bambino Lola 6.20 Sardenya 6.55 Mildenberger 7.25 Bengal Lancer 7.55 The Twisler
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