Enable and Frankie Dettori winning at Churchill Downs© Photo Healy Racing
Enable is set to make her long-awaited return in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown in July after connections ruled out an appearance at Royal Ascot.
John Gosden’s dual Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine has been kept in training as a five-year-old, with the chief aim of becoming the first horse in history to win Europe’s premier middle-distance contest three times, but has yet to make her seasonal debut.
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Enable’s owner-breeder Khalid Abdullah, confirmed earlier this month the star mare would sidestep this week’s Coronation Cup at Epsom and instead be aimed at either the Prince of Wales’s Stakes or the Hardwicke at the Royal meeting.
However, a workout in Newmarket on Wednesday has prompted another change of heart.
Grimthorpe said in a statement: “Following a piece of work on the Limekilns this morning both John Gosden and Frankie Dettori feel that Royal Ascot will come too soon for her.
“She will now be aimed at the Eclipse Stakes on 6th July. Her main target remains the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.”
