King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes: Preview & tips
Get the thoughts of John Gosden, Aidan O'Brien and Man On The Spot ahead of the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot.
Enable team:
John Gosden is confident Enable is back "in the zone" as she bids for a remarkable third victory in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot.
The superstar mare was narrowly denied in her bid to become the first three-time winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe last season - and has been kept in training as a six-year-old with the primary objective of putting that right in October.
However, she first has the chance to make history this weekend, having become only the third dual King George winner - after Dahlia (1973 and 1974) and Swain (1997 and 1998) - when getting the better of a pulsating duel with Crystal Ocean 12 months ago.
Enable has run just once since her defeat in Paris last autumn, finishing second to the front-running Ghaiyyath when defending her crown in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown three weeks ago, a performance Gosden insists he could not have been happier with.
"I was very open with everybody that being at the age she is now, she would improve for the run," said the Clarehaven handler.
"Funnily enough I'm not very experienced at training six-year-old race mares. I think it's a little different if they're light-framed and wiry, but she found it difficult getting to race fitness this year, far more than ever before.
"She has found it challenging. But having the strong mind that she has, she brought herself forward enough to be ready to have a race at Sandown, and the race would bring her on - that's exactly what happened.
"I was delighted with her run."
Gosden reiterated his belief that to have challenged Ghaiyyath earlier in the Eclipse would have had a detrimental effect on the rest of Enable's campaign.
"I did feel a front-runner like Ghaiyyath in magnificent form would be hard to beat in the Eclipse - I said to Frankie beforehand, 'if we try to stay on his tail this race will knock us back, rather than bring us forward'," said Gosden.
"She did very well to finish second, but for us the race was very much a platform. I'm very clear that I did not expect her to win the Eclipse, but I am looking forward to running her on Saturday in the sense that she's up for it now.
"She behaved beautifully at Sandown when she was still not in the zone, but I feel she's back in it now."
Gosden went on record as saying Enable was "85 per cent" fit before the Eclipse. Asked if he could put a number on her current condition, he added: "If the trainer hasn't got her fit by now, I suggest you fire him!"
He feels that while Enable is a different beast to the one who went through a scintillating three-year-old campaign unbeaten, she has lost none of her appetite for the game.
He added: "What changed with her was her metabolism. I'm sure there are a few people looking at their tummies, knowing they change with age! Consequently, she never gained that tightness like she normally would this year - it took her a lot longer.
"She is a six-year-old race mare - she's not that wild, exuberant three-year-old filly who could just do anything. The number of races she performed in as a three-year-old was quite remarkable.
"She still has that exuberance she had as a three-year-old, but she is older and has grown a little wiser.
"I see all of the mental strength and wanting to do it still there with her. She's more measured about it now, that's probably the best way of putting it."
All going well this weekend, Gosden confirmed Enable's next port of call will be the Yorkshire Oaks at York, before her return to ParisLongchamp for the day that really matters in October.
Gosden said: "That is why she's in training at six, poor girl, rather than being honourably retired as a five-year-old.
"The plan was always about this attempt to win a third Arc - it didn't have to be three in a row. If it doesn't go right on Saturday, there's still the Arc coming in the autumn."
Ballydoyle team:
Aidan O’Brien will saddle two horses to take on Enable in Saturday’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot after Anthony Van Dyck was declared a non-runner on Friday evening.
Having won the race twice already, along with two Prix de l’Arc de Triomphes towards her prolific Group One tally, John Gosden’s Enable has proved an elusive nut to crack for O’Brien – who was ready to throw everything bar the kitchen sink at the six-year-old.
However, the Ballydoyle maestro’s hand was weakened less than 24 hours before the race after last year’s Investec Derby hero Anthony Van Dyck returned unsatisfactory blood results, leaving just Japan and the 2019 Irish Derby winner Sovereign to take on the great mare.
“We’re very happy with Japan – everything about his first two runs this season was leading into the King George,” said O’Brien.
“The first day at Ascot, he got upset in the stalls and missed the break, then he got a little tired, but we were happy. We were delighted with him at Sandown (in the Eclipse) and we felt he would progress big time for it.
“Everything about his work since has been very good, and we are where we hoped he would be. He’s a year older, he’s had two runs, he’s progressed from his first to his second -and we think he’s progressed a nice bit again.
“It’s a very small field, but very select. Racing is about competitive racing, that’s what everyone wants to see. We always had it in our minds this would be Japan’s first big target. With horses, you go minute by minute, but at the moment we are very happy.”
With Japan’s two runs this season coming over 10 furlongs, O’Brien is confident two furlongs further will not be an issue.
“Japan ran a great race in the Arc as a baby three-year-old when he was beaten only two and a quarter lengths by Enable,” he said.
“It was all a rush last year – we made a mess of the start, and he just made the Derby.
“As for his best trip, he gets 10 furlongs very well but he looks like he gets a mile and a half too. Obviously those class mile-and-a-half horses have the speed for a mile and a quarter as well, and that’s what he’s got.
“We’ve run lots of horses against Enable but we’re always trying to compete, that’s what everybody loves. It’s great having strong competition, so it’s great Enable is there.
“The mystery of it all is what everyone wants, nobody knows what is going to happen. It should be a great race to watch.
“It will be Enable and Frankie (Dettori) and Japan and Ryan (Moore) – so it will be some spectacle. The two horses and the two lads, we’re looking forward to it.
“You have to admire what Enable has done – it’s great to have her in the race and it’s great she’s still competing. The reality is it’s like one of those old matches. It’s on a great track, a stiff mile and a half, so it should be great.”
He added: “All the talk of team tactics has been nonsense. Everyone can see that any one of our horses can win – no matter what prices they are or who is riding – they run to compete and compete to win, that’s always the way.
“It’s easy for outsiders to say this, that and the other – whether they win, lose or draw and before or after – but we don’t think it’s good sportsmanship ever.
“When you compete you accept the result and move forward, wish the people who beat you or finished behind you well and hope you meet again. That’s always been the way.
“It’s all a load of nonsense really – jockeys make funny decisions in races, some keep their ground, some don’t, and the next thing everyone is up in arms saying this shouldn’t happen. The stewards are there to see all those things, so it’s a load of nonsense.”
Sovereign will require a career-best to trouble the top two,but it is never wise to rule out anything O’Brien trains.
“It’s Sovereign’s second run of the season, and he’s come forward lovely,” he said.
Man On The Spot
Even if the Ballydoyle trio conspire to make life interesting for ENABLE, John Gosden’s superstar mare should still have more than enough to land this Group 1 for the third time in four years. Anthony Van Dyck finished tailed off last year and hasn’t won since last season’s Derby when Japan was beaten half-a-length in third and Sovereign was 10th. Ryan Moore’s mount was only a head behind the favourite in the Coral-Eclipse but that was over 1m2f and it’s asking a lot for him to reverse the form over this trip.
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