John Gosden: 'Tall order' for Enable to win another King George
- Published
Champion trainer John Gosden addressed the media on Monday
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes |
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Venue: Ascot racecourse Date: Saturday 27 July Time: 15:40 BST |
Coverage: Commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live |
John Gosden insists it will be a "tall order" for superstar filly Enable to win Ascot's high summer feature, the Group One King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, for a second time.
The champion trainer has guided the five-year-old to "horseracing treasure" status with success in 11 of her 12 races including the King George in 2017, France's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe twice, the Breeders' Cup Turf in America, the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown - impressively on her first start of 2019 - and multiple editions of the Oaks.
Jockey Frankie Dettori has described the filly, owned by her breeder Saudi prince Khalid Abdullah, as possessing the most glittering CV of any horse he has ever ridden.
Victory in the 2018 Arc came despite a hold-up because of injury and then 11th-hour sickness.
At Ascot, she faces a select list of opponents including Royal Ascot winners Crystal Ocean and Defoe, both also aged five, leading Japanese horse Grand Cheval (seven) and the 2019 Epsom Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck, who as a three-year-old carries less weight than his elders.
Yet, despite the quality of the field, Enable, whose build-up to the 2019 campaign has been considerably smoother than 12 months earlier, is odds-on favourite.
Gosden told BBC Sport: "She won it as a three-year-old getting the weight - it's a little different when you're older and suddenly you've got a Derby winner coming at you, and he's getting the weight.
"And you have a wonderful old horse, Crystal Ocean, who ran a blinder [when runner-up] last year in it, and he won the Prince of Wales [at Royal Ascot], so this is no penalty kick, absolutely not.
"I'm sure that pricing her where she is [by bookmakers] is not realistic to her chances, but it is realistic to them to protect themselves if she does win."
And it's perhaps no major surprise if they are: both the trainer and his jockey are enjoying a particularly rich vein of form at flat racing's highest level, most recently taking the Irish Oaks at The Curragh with Star Catcher.
Just around the corner, at Glorious Goodwood, they'll be aiming a powerful squad at the major prizes including Stradivarius in the Goodwood Cup, Too Darn Hot in the Sussex Stakes, and the filly Mehdaayih in the Nassau Stakes.
However, it's fair to say most eyes are on Enable as she lines up at Ascot before an expected August trip to York for the International Stakes or Yorkshire Oaks and then, all being well, an attempt at an unprecedented third Arc victory in October at Longchamp in Paris.
Outwardly Gosden, who is seeking a fourth King George win - Dettori's after his sixth - does not show too many signs of stress, but he said: "Yes, you're watching everything the whole time. Most trainers are neurotics and I'm probably no exception - even if on the outside you don't look like it."
With Enable, it would probably be a tall order not to be.