Enable to miss York en route to historic Arc bid

Nick Robson
August 10, 2020 9:15 am

Kempton’s September Stakes will be next outing for brilliant mare.

Owner Khalid Abdullah has taken the decision not to run Enable at the York Ebor meeting.

John Gosden’s three-time King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner had two options in Yorkshire next week.

She could have stayed at a mile and a half for the Yorkshire Oaks, a race she was won twice before – but that would have meant a meeting with Aidan O’Brien’s 1000 Guineas and Oaks winner Love.

Were she to have dropped down to 10 furlongs once more for the Juddmonte International, a race sponsored by Abdullah, it would have seen her come up against her Eclipse conqueror Ghaiyyath.

Instead, Enable will run at Kempton in the September Stakes, a race she won in 2018 on her return from a setback which set her up nicely to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for a second time.

Having come so close to winning the great race for a third time last season, connections have said all along that in this campaign her main quest was to win the Arc a third time, something no horse has ever done.

In a statement, Abdullah’s racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe said: “Prince Khalid has decided that Enable’s next start will be the September Stakes Group Three at Kempton on Septembern5.

“As has been stated, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Group One remains her main objective.”