Ghaiyyath strikes in Eclipse as Enable goes down fighting
Flat queen Enable (Nathaniel) suffered her second consecutive defeat when she failed to reel in Godolphin’s Ghaiyyath (Dubawi) in yesterday’s Eclipse Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 2f) at Sandown.
Heartbreakingly beaten when bidding for Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) history in October, Enable lost little in defeat, especially as her trainer John Gosden insisted she would need the race to help improve her fitness.
That is not something the classy Ghaiyyath had an issue with after his victory in the Coronation Cup (Gr 1, 1m 4f) a month ago.
Just like then, he led and stayed on strongly to beat Enable with Japan (Galileo) third.
The summer code’s biggest and most popular name, whose compilation of hits includes two Arcs, an Epsom Oaks (Gr 1, 1m 4f), Irish Oaks (Gr 1, 1m 4f), brace of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 1m 4f) and success in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (Gr 1, 1m 4f), had won 13 of her 15 starts and was expected to make that 14, going off the evens favourite.
However, Gosden, who trains the six-year-old for breeder Khalid Abdullah, warned she was only 85 per cent fit for her return, which was being used as a prep for the King George this month.
Settled in midfield by Frankie Dettori as Ghaiyyath went on up front, Enable was fifth turning for home and picked up encouragingly in the straight, but the 9-4 winner had slipped away under a smart William Buick ride.
He is now 8-1 (from 20) with Paddy Power for the Arc, which he was well beaten in last year, while Betfair make him 5-2 (from 8) for the King George and have Enable at 7-4 (from 13-8).
Buick had won the Eclipse on Enable’s sire Nathaniel (Galileo) and Hawkbill (Kitten’s Joy) and he lauded his willing partner, who was a stunning 14-length winner of the Grosser Preis von Baden (Gr 1, 2400m) last year.
“Last year was in and out for him,” the rider said. “He had some fantastic performances and some disappointments due to circumstances.
“That was a great performance and from a rider’s point of view he’s becoming more manageable and grown up. He’s an amazing horse to ride.
“This ranks right up there. I thought this week that this could be billed as the race of the season. You look at the horses that lined up and it’s a great line-up. This is a great horse, as you saw, but we have great respect for Enable, who I’m sure will be back to what she does best.”
Ghaiyyath’s trainer Charlie Appleby, celebrating his 45th birthday yesterday, was thrilled as well.
He said: “I’m delighted and congratulations to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and the team at Godolphin. He’s a horse we’ve held in the highest esteem and he’s delivered again. It was a fantastic ride by William again.
“I wondered, when they came to him in the straight, how much he’d done early, but he wears his heart on his sleeve and was never going to lie down.”
Of plans, Appleby added: “We just want to enjoy today. It’s a great effort and it was a great run from Enable too; it was a great race for everybody to watch.”
Coral made brilliant Epsom Oaks winner Love (Galileo) their 7-2 favourite for the Arc after the Eclipse, going 6-1 about Enable, who was dethroned by Waldgeist (Galileo) when aiming to become the only three-time winner of the Longchamp championship last autumn.