John Gosden's top fillies and mares including Enable and Emily Upjohn
Coral-Eclipse contender Emily Upjohn is another high-class filly for John & Thady Gosden, but where does she rank in the top 10 from Clarehaven Stables over the years?
1. Enable (Timeform rating 134)
Enable was all-conquering as a three-year-old in 2017, achieving a lofty Timeform rating of 134 as she registered five Group One wins in the Oaks, the Irish Oaks, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Enable never quite scaled the same heights again in terms of ratings, but she continued to rack up the Group One wins, with her eleventh and final success at the top level coming when she won the King George for a record third time in 2020. She’d previously won the Arc for a second time in 2018, but a third victory in that race proved elusive as she could manage only second in 2019 and sixth in 2020.
Enable's retirement was announced shortly after her second Arc defeat, with John Gosden quick to pay tribute. He said: “Her daily presence has been a joy and her record in Group Ones including four Oaks, three King Georges, two Arcs, an Eclipse and a Breeders' Cup Turf is a marvel and unprecedented.”
Major races won
- 2017 Oaks, Epsom
- 2017 Irish Oaks, Curragh
- 2017 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Ascot
- 2017 Yorkshire Oaks, York
- 2017 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Longchamp
- 2018 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Longchamp
- 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf, Churchill Downs
- 2019 Coral-Eclipse, Sandown
- 2019 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Ascot
- 2019 Yorkshire Oaks, York
- 2020 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Ascot
2. Taghrooda (130)
Taghrooda was the forerunner to Enable when completing the Oaks/King George double in 2014. She became the first of four Oaks winners from Clarehaven Stables when dominating at Epsom, while the manner in which she dismissed a couple of high-class older rivals at Ascot was even more impressive as she powered clear in the final furlong to land the spoils by three lengths.
That was a performance out of the very top drawer as Taghrooda became just the third three-year-old filly to win the King George since the race's inception in 1951. The only surprise was that she failed to add to her Group One tally in two subsequent starts, first suffering a shock defeat when sent off at 5/1-on for the Yorkshire Oaks and then running no more than respectably when third in the Arc.
Major races won
- 2014 Oaks, Epsom
- 2014 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Ascot
3= Emily Upjohn (128)
Emily Upjohn was unable to match the achievements of Enable and Taghrooda as a three-year-old – she was beaten a short head in the Oaks and then ran no sort of race when last of six runners in the King George – but she still ended 2022 as a Group One winner having resumed her progress after three months off with a convincing success in the Fillies' & Mares' Stakes.
Kept in training as a four-year-old, Emily Upjohn took another significant step forward when making a successful reappearance in last month's Coronation Cup, showing a rare turn of foot to beat last year's Irish Derby winner Westover by a length and three-quarters.
It was every inch a high-class performance and that level of form identifies Emily Upjohn as the one to beat in Saturday's Coral-Eclipse on Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings, with the way she shaped at Epsom suggesting the drop back to a mile and a quarter at Sandown is unlikely to be an issue.
Major races won
- 2022 Fillies' & Mares' Stakes, Ascot
- 2023 Coronation Cup, Epsom – watch the replay below
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3= The Fugue (128)
Like Emily Upjohn, The Fugue was forced to settle for minor honours in her Oaks tilt – she finished an unlucky-in-running third behind Was – before going on to become a multiple Group One winner in the familiar pink silks with grey sash belonging to Lord Lloyd Webber.
The Fugue made the breakthrough in Group One company when landing the Nassau Stakes later in her three-year-old campaign and that was the first of 12 successive starts at the top level. Blessed with a potent change of gear, she also won the Yorkshire Oaks and the Irish Champion Stakes as a four-year-old, plus the Prince of Wales's Stakes as a five-year-old. She retired as the winner of six of her 17 starts, only finishing out of the first three on four occasions.
Major races won
- 2012 Nassau Stakes, Goodwood
- 2013 Yorkshire Oaks, York
- 2013 Irish Champion Stakes, Leopardstown
- 2014 Prince of Wales's Stakes, Royal Ascot
5. Inspiral (125)
Unbeaten in four starts as a two-year-old, including the Group One Fillies' Mile, Inspiral confirmed herself a high-class filly when kicking off her three-year-old campaign with a devastating victory in the Coronation Stakes, quickening clear late on to win by four and three-quarter lengths.
A third Group One success followed later that summer when she won the Prix Jacques le Marois, but it wasn’t all rosy for her that season as she also suffered a couple of expensive defeats. She was notably beaten at 7/1-on in the Falmouth Stakes, having to settle for the runner-up spot behind a filly she'd already beaten on several occasions, and sixth was the best she could muster on her final start of the season in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
Again, Inspiral was below form after eight months off when last seen finishing second in the Queen Anne Stakes, though that was still an encouraging return, especially as she came from further back than the other principals. There should be more good races to be won with her as a four-year-old if building on that effort.
Major races won
- 2021 Fillies' Mile, Newmarket
- 2022 Coronation Stakes, Royal Ascot
- 2022 Prix Jacques le Marois, Deauville
6= Dar Re Mi (124)
Dar Re Mi proved herself a smart middle-distance filly as a three-year-old, twice finding one too good in Group One company. However, it's fair to say that it was the following year when she really came into her own, finishing first past the post in the Pretty Polly Stakes, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Prix Vermeille (subsequently demoted for causing interference), as well as fifth in the Arc and third in the Breeders' Cup Turf.
Even better was to come as a five-year-old when Dar Re Mi produced a career-best effort to land the Dubai Sheema Classic on her return to action, but she made only one more appearance on a racecourse before her career was brought to a premature end due to injury.
Still, Dar Re Mi's association with the Gosden stable didn't end there and she's since produced several talented performers to run in the Lord Lloyd Webber silks that she too carried, including the multiple Group One winner Too Darn Hot and the very smart fillies Lah Ti Dar – more on whom shortly – and So Mi Dar.
Major races won
- 2009 Pretty Polly Stakes, Curragh
- 2009 Yorkshire Oaks, York
- 2010 Dubai Sheema Classic, Meydan
6= Journey (124)
Journey only won once at the top level, but there was no fluke about that performance as she showed very smart form to land the Fillies' & Mares' Stakes as a four-year-old, hitting the front over a furlong out and always doing enough from there to win by four lengths in impressive fashion.
That was a deserved victory for Journey after she'd filled the runner-up spot in the same race 12 months later, while she also won a Group Three at Haydock and three times at Listed level in a successful career.
Incidentally, the Gosden stable is set to bid for more big-race success in this division on Saturday when Journey's sister, Mimikyu, lines up in the Lancashire Oaks at Haydock.
Major races won
- 2016 Fillies' And Mares' Stakes, Ascot
6= Terebellum (124)
Terebellum failed to make the breakthrough in Group One company, but she came close on a couple of occasions as a four-year-old, finishing second (beaten a head) in the Queen Anne and third (beaten half a length) in the Falmouth.
Before that she'd won the Group Two Dahlia Stakes on her reappearance that season, while she was also precocious enough to win at that level as a three-year-old when landing the Prix de la Nonette.
9= High Heeled (123)
Third in the Oaks and a six-length Group Three winner at Newbury when trained by Barry Hills, High Heeled spent just one season at Clarehaven having moved there as a four-year-old after being bought by George Strawbridge.
Admittedly, High Heeled failed to win in six starts for Gosden, but the form she showed on her first start for the yard when third in the Coronation Cup – beaten only two and three-quarter lengths behind the top-class Fame And Glory – was up there with anything she'd achieved previously.
9= Lah Ti Dar (123)
A daughter of the aforementioned Dar Re Mi, Lah Ti Dar looked the real deal when winning her first three starts as a three-year-old, including Listed races at Newmarket and York, and she proved she belonged at the top table when going on to finish second in the St Leger (beaten two and a quarter lengths) and third in the Fillies' And Mares' Stakes (beaten a length and three-quarters).
She gained her biggest win when landing the Group Two Middleton Stakes on her return to action as a four-year-old, but it didn't happen for her in five subsequent starts at the top level, albeit she wasn't far off her best when beaten just a neck into third in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.
11= Elusive Kate, Free Wind, Nazeef, So Mi Dar (122)
15= Coronet, Fallen For You, Jazzi Top, Laugh Aloud, Nannina, Nashwa, Rainbow View (121)
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