John Gosden said on Thursday that he does not expect to “see anything too sinister” unfolding at Ascot on Saturday when Enable, the odds-on favourite, takes on three runners from the Aidan O’Brien yard in Ireland in the King George & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Gosden also suggested Frankie Dettori, Enable’s jockey, will have a “blank canvas” from the start in what seems sure to be a highly tactical race.
O’Brien’s well-established willingness to field multiple runners in Group One races has led some to question whether “team tactics” could be deployed to improve his overall chance. The possibility was recently raised by the leading owner Sheikh Fahad al-Thani after the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in June – when O’Brien’s three runners all raced towards the head of the field until the home turn – saying on Twitter that it was “such a shame” to see the race “run like that”.
Gosden, whose colt Palace Pier was the eventual winner, referenced that race on Thursday when asked how he saw the Qipco-sponsored King George unfolding on Saturday.
“I don’t expect to see a repeat of a Group One run there on the Saturday of Royal Ascot, I don’t expect a repeat of that,” Gosden said.
“I would have thought that we’re above all that now, I really would. If I’m concerned about that going into a race, that’s not a good thing.
“Those horses are ridden by gentlemen who ride for me a lot too [Ryan Moore, William Buick and Oisin Murphy], so I don’t see anything too sinister ahead.”
Enable made all the running to win a four-runner renewal of the Yorkshire Oaks last season and also to win the same race against five opponents in 2017, but generally takes a lead in her races.
Among her opponents on Saturday, Sovereign (Buick) made all the running to win the Irish Derby by a wide margin last season, while Anthony Van Dyck (Murphy) was held up on the way to victory in the 2019 Derby at Epsom, and Japan, the mount of Ryan Moore, has more finishing speed with a Group One win at 10 furlongs in the International Stakes last season.
“I think in races of that nature with a small field, yes it’s going to be tactical, [and] you go in there with a blank canvas,” Gosden said. “You do not under any circumstances say we’re going to do this or that, let’s just see how it pans out, what the Ballydoyle horses do.
“Yes, it will be tactically fascinating but I will leave that to the jockey, there’s no way you could tie anyone down to ‘you will do this or that’, that never works. We always have a plan in a race and quite often we go to plan B which is a blank canvas, and this one is a blank canvas at plan A.”
Enable has been beaten in her last two races, most recently when odds‑on for her seasonal reappearance behind the race-fit Ghaiyyath in the Group One Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park.
“I said to Frankie that if we try to get on his tail, this race will knock us back, it won’t bring us forward,” Gosden said. “So we were clear we were going to come with a run and she did great to finish second in front of Japan.
“It was very much the race as a platform. The betting was stupid but that was very much because with Frankie on Enable, they [the bookmakers] have to protect themselves.”
Newmarket 12.00 Sadiqaa 12.35 Champagne Supernova 1.10 Al Rufaa (nap) 1.40 Top Class Angel 2.15 Nugget (nb) 2.50 Darain 3.20 Union Spirit 3.55 Grand Bazaar
Beverley 12.15 Crown Princess 12.50 Nibras Again 1.20 Dromquinna 1.50 Kentuckyconnection 2.25 Le Chiffre 3.00 Global Exceed 3.35 Burguillos 4.10 Kitten’s Dream 4.45 Snookered
Newton Abbot 4.35 Templepark 5.05 Solstalla 5.35 Scotsbrook Night 6.05 Sammylou 6.35 Moabit 7.05 Tidal Watch 7.35 Soldier Of Love 8.05 Gold Mountain 8.35 Beholden
Ripon 4.55 Salsoul 5.25 Not On Your Nellie 5.55 Jumeirah Beach 6.25 Brian The Snail 6.55 Vitare 7.25 Al Muffrih 7.55 Kensington Art 8.25 Strawberry Rock
Enable’s ultimate target this season is a record third success in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October, in which she came up less than two lengths short behind Waldgeist last season.
“Frankie and I are very clear that if we rode the race again, we would do it differently,” Gosden said. “The ground was very testing and again, [the front-running] Ghaiyyath comes into play here, he came into it after winning the Grosser Preis von Baden by 14 or 15 lengths and everyone was concerned that with an easy lead, he might do the same again.
“We were all too close to the pace and the sectional times show that we all walked through the final 200 metres. Well done to the winner [Waldgeist] and Monsieur [Pierre-Charles] Boudot, he cut us rosbifs down after we’d gone far too hard.”
