More Than Able: Enable Bests Male Foes in King George

Juddmonte Farms'  homebred super filly Enable ran through a driving rain to a clear victory over a tough field of older males in the July 29 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1) at Ascot.

The dual Oaks winner left in her wake Ulysses, the last-out winner of the Coral-Eclipse (G1), and Idaho, winner of the Hardwicke Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot in his previous outing.

The others were well back. Multiple group 1 winner Highland Reel, compromised by the soft and quickly deteriorating going, loomed on the outside turning for home but could not quicken and finished fourth, beaten 9 1/4 lengths. Jack Hobbs, winner of the Longines Dubai Sheema Classic (G1) at Meydan in March, finished ninth of 10 in the King George.

The lead-up to the race figured squarely on the weather. Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) winner Highland Reel was among the early favorites but, with his known preference for firmer ground, began to drift as rain dominated the forecast.

When trainer John Gosden announced Enable would make her first start outside her own age group, and with a 14-pound weight break from Highland Reel, the market quickly swung in her favor. She started as the solid favorite although Gosden, on British television, expressed doubts about the condition of the turf even as the horses were going down to the start.

With Frankie Dettori riding, Enable raced a bit eagerly in the first few furlongs of the 1 1/2-mile King George and was always prominent behind the early pace. As the field squared away into the straight, Dettori asked the filly to run and she quickly put the matter to rest, spurting away from the field to win by 4 1/2 lengths. The final time was 2:36.22 over the course rated good to soft. 

Ulysses, with Jim Crowley up for Sir Michael Stoute, ran on well for second. Idaho was three-quarters of a length behind Ulysses.

Enable is a daughter of Nathaniel, the 2011 King George winner, out of the Sadler's Wells mare Concentric. She won at first asking last fall at Newcastle on the all-weather and was put away for the winter.

After a third-place finish in her season-opener, Enable quickly reeled off victories in the Arkle Finance Cheshire Oaks at Chester, the Investec Oaks (G1) at Epsom and the Darley Irish Oaks (G1) at the Curragh. She has now won her last three races by a combined 20 lengths, proving she has no equal in her class.

By the end of the season, she might get the chance to prove she has no equals of either gender or any age as she already finds herself a general favorite for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) at Chantilly Oct. 1.