Having won her sole start as a
juvenile, Enable was beaten in a condition stakes race over 1 mile 2
furlongs at Newbury on her three-year-old debut, staying on to finish
third, beaten 2½ lengths and a head by stable companion Shutter
Speed and Raheen House. However, her proximity to the 110-rated
Raheen House, who’d finished fourth in the Racing Post Trophy at
Doncaster the previous October, earned her an 18lb rise in the
weights.
She proved that the weight rise was
justified, though, by winning the Cheshire Oaks by 1¾ lengths, eased
down, on her next start at Chester. Winning jockey Frankie Dettori
said afterwards, “She’s a very nice filly, who is improving all
the time. She is beginning to know what she is doing.”
The daughter of Nathaniel certainly
knew what she was doing by the time she arrived at Epsom for the Oaks
proper, drawing clear in the closing stages to beat the odds-on
favourite, Rhododendron, by 5 lengths, with her old rival Alluringly
a further 6 lengths away in third.
She won at the Curragh, with a minimum
of fuss, to become a dual Oaks winner and moved on to Ascot for the
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, in which she faced older
horses, including colts, for the first time. Frankie Dettori wasted
down to 8st 7lb, his minimum riding weight all year, to take the ride
and Enable quickened clear in the closing stages to win by an
impressive 4½ lengths.
After another facile victory in the
Darley Yorkshire Oaks at York in August, at odds of ¼, Enable made
her final start of the season came in the Prix de l’Arc de
Triomphe, run at Chantilly during the redevelopment of Longchamp, in
October. Sent of 10/11 favourite, she was ridden clear 1½ furlongs
from home to beat Cloth Of Stars by 2½ lengths. Her Timeform rating
of 134 is only a few pounds behind the best fillies of the last five
decades or so and she stays in training as a four-year-old, so she
could still be better yet.
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