Good Evening!
Welcome to a new post here at zoelouisesmithx.com! Today’s post is another post in my What Makes a People’s Horse series and of course we had to look at the Queen that is Enable. After her retirement being confirmed in October 2020, the racing world shown an outpouring of love to her which is proof in itself that she is in fact a people’s horse, so let’s have a look back at her career to see just exactly why the world fell in love with her. Without further ado, let’s get right into it!
Enable was foaled on February 12th 2014 at Juddmonte Farms. She is by Nathaniel out of Concentric. With her Grandsire being Galileo and her Damsire being Sadler’s Wells (Galileo’s father) so all in all – she was destined to be an all time great coming from an incredible bloodline on both sides of her family.
Enable’s owner Khalid Abdullah sent her into training with John Gosden and her first race quickly approached at 2 years old on November 28th 2016 in a Maiden Fillies’ Stakes over 1 mile on the all weather track at Newcastle. She started at 7/2 under Robert Havlin and impressively won on debut by 3 and 3/4 lengths to Gallifrey (8/1) for Richard Kingscote and Lucy Wadham.
Enable then took a 144 day winter break and returned to the track on April 21st 2017, this time heading to Newbury for a Class 3 Stallions Conditions Stakes over 1 mile, 2 furlongs. This time she started at 5/1 with William Buick riding. However she could only manage a 3rd place behind the winner and stable mate for the same owner Shutter Speed at 5/4F for Frankie Dettori and in second place Raheen House (7/2) for Jimmy Fortune and Brian Meehan.
Just a couple of weeks later on May 10th 2017, Enable headed to Chester for a Class 1 Listed Race, the Arkle Finance Cheshire Oaks over 1 mile 3 and 1/3 furlongs. For the first time Frankie Dettori took the ride and 2/1 was their starting price. She ended up winning by 1 and 3/4 lengths to the Evens favourite Alluringly for Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien.
The next race for Enable was less than a month later and it was a big one. The Group 1 Investec Oaks at Epsom where under Frankie Dettori she was a 6/1 shot. Coming out of stall 9, she ended up winning quite impressively by 5 lengths to the odds on 8/11 favourite Rhododendron for Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien once again.
Just over a month later on July 15th 2007 Enable headed over to Ireland and to the Curragh with her partner Frankie Dettori for the Group 1 Darley Irish Oaks. This time she started as the odds on 2/5 favourite and to nobodies surprise she won by 5 and 1/2 lengths to Rain Goddess (7/1) for Seamie Heffernan and Aidan O’Brien.
Exactly 2 weeks later on July 29th 2017, Enable headed to Ascot for the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes where she started as the 5/4 favourite with her now regular partner Frankie Dettori. Here she won again, this time by 4 and 1/2 lengths to Ulysses (9/1) for Jim Crowley and Sir Michael Stoute.
Next up for Enable would be the Group 1 Darley Yorkshire Oaks at York on August 24th, again starting as the odds on 1/4 favourite under Frankie Dettori. Here she beat her stable mate Coronet (16/1) for Olivier Peslier by 5 lengths.
Enable’s final run in 2017 came on October 1st when she headed over to France and to Chantilly for the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomph. Starting as the 10/11 favourite under Frankie Dettori, she was once again crowned the winner, this time beating Cloth Of Stars (20/1) for Mickael Barzalona and A Fabre by 2 and 1/2 lengths.
We then head into 2018 and in May of that year, it was announced that Enable had suffered a ‘training setback’ and she would not return until August at the earliest. So after a 342 day break, Enable’s much anticipated return finally happened when she headed to Kempton on September 8th for the Group 3 September Stakes. Although she had been off the track for the majority of a year she returned as the 8/15 favourite with her regular partner Frankie Dettori. She ended up winning by 3 and 1/2 lengths to Crystal Ocean (6/4) for David Probert and Sir Michael Stoute.
A month later on October 7th, she headed back to France, this time to Longchamp for the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. This time as the Evens favourite, again with Frankie Dettori riding, this time winning by just a short neck to Sea Of Class (6/1) for James Doyle and William Haggas.
We then head into November and on the 3rd of the month, Enable headed to America for the first time, this time to Churchill Downs for the Grade 1 Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf. Frankie Dettori travelled with her and they started as the 8/13 favourites where they ended up winning by 3/4 of a length to Magical (13/2) for Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien.
Enable then took a 245 day winter break and returned to the track on July 6th 2019 for the Group 1 Coral Eclipse at Sandown. She was the odds on favourite at 4/6 with Frankie Dettori once again taking the ride. Here she ended up beating Magical (11/4) for Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien by 3/4 of a length once again, practically re-living her previous race.
Three weeks later on July 27th 2019, Enable headed to Ascot for the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, this time as the odds on 8/15 favourite again, with her regular partner Frankie Dettori riding. Here she won by just a neck to Crystal Ocean (7/2) for James Doyle and Sir Michael Stoute.
Moving into August, Enable headed to York on the 22nd for the Group 1 Darley Yorkshire Oaks where she was the 1/4 favourite under Frankie Dettori. She beat Magical (4/1) by 2 and 3/4 lengths for Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien.
On October 6th 2019, Enable headed back to Longchamp in France for the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc Triomphe once again. This time she was 1/2 favourite with Frankie Dettori, however she only managed a second place by 1 and 3/4 lengths to the winner Waldgeist (131/10) for Pierre-Charles Boudot and A Fabre.
After a 273 day break, Enable returned to the track on July 5th 2020 this time at Sandown for the Group 1 Coral Eclipse once again. Here she was the Evens favourite under Frankie Dettori, once again she could only manage a second place, this time by 2 and 1/4 lengths behind Ghaiyyath (9/4) for William Buick and Charlie Appleby.
Enable then returned to winning ways on July 25th 2020 when she went to Ascot for the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes as the 4/9 favourite under Frankie Dettori and won by 5 and 1/2 lengths to Sovereign (12/1) for William Buick and Aidan O’Brien.
On September 5th 2020 Enable had her final race in the UK when she headed to Kempton for the Group 3 September Stakes on the all weather surface. She was the 1/14 favourite and Frankie Dettori took the ride. Her final run in the UK would be a victorious one when she won by 7 lengths to Kirstenbosch (33/1) for James Doyle and James Fanshawe.
Enable’s final run came on October 4th 2020 when she headed to Longchamp in France for another go at the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. The public were aware this quite possibly would be her final run so she was heavily backed into the 9/10 favourite under Frankie Dettori. Unfortunately she would have her worst finish of her career when finishing 6th, however she still got an incredible standing ovation when returning from the race from the whole crowd and everybody watching from home.
On October 12th 2020 it was confirmed that Enable would be retired with trainer John Gosden saying:
Enable has retired happy and sound after an extraordinary career. We all here at Clarehaven Stables have been very fortunate to be with her for the past five years. She’s been a joy to be around.”
https://www.greatbritishracing.com/news/all-hail-the-queen-enable-retires/
With her regular partner Frankie Dettori also saying:
Obviously I shed a tear as I was a bit emotional. She’s done so brilliant for all of us and I love her. I’m never going to forget her. I went to see her this morning. We had a tremendous journey for three and a half, four years. She was the horse that most touched my heart.”
https://www.greatbritishracing.com/news/all-hail-the-queen-enable-retires/
So all in all, Enable finished her racing career with some incredible figures:
1/3111111/111/1112/2116-
Other than her 6th place in her final appearance, Enable never finished outside of the first 3. She had:
19 x runs
15 x 1st
2 x 2nd
1 x 3rd
1 x 6th
Winning over £10.7 million in her career including some major wins and awards along the way. The Cheshire Oaks, Epsom Oaks, Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks in 2017 as well as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 2017, 2019 and 2020, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2017 and 2018, the September Stakes in 2018 and 2020, the Breeders Cup Turf in 2018, the Yorkshire Oaks again in 2019 and the Eclipse Stakes in 2019. As well as winning the Cartier Champion Three Year Old Filly in 2017, the Cartier Horse of the Year in 2017 and 2019 as well as the Cartier Champion Older Horse in 2018 and 2019.
Enable has now went on to be a broodmare standing at Juddmonte and on March 2nd 2021 it was confirmed by Juddmonte via Twitter that Enable is successfully in foal to Kingman. So therefore her story is far from over and if her foals are anything like her or the family she has came from then they will be a force to be reckoned with and I am very excited to see how the future goes.
All in all, I don’t think I even need to say much, Enable was and is still loved by so many and that shows by the emotion when she had her final run, not only from Frankie, John and those involved with her personally, but also those at home who have just watched her. I think it shows how loved she is by the reaction to her also being in foal, the excitement on social media that her story will be continuing was amazing and I think that speaks for itself. Enable is a true people’s horse and for me she will go down as one of the greatest and I cannot wait to see how well (hopefully) her career as a broodmare goes and how successful her foals will go on to be.
I personally love Enable and I loved being able to have a look back at her career, I hope you all enjoyed reading. I will see you all Saturday morning at 11am for a new post!
zoelouisesmithx 