The 69th King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on Saturday, showed one of the most outstanding finishes ever, in this 1.5 mile Ascot thriller.
An indomitable 5-year-old mare Enable (GB), under jockey Frankie Dettori, outduelled Sir Evelyn de Rothschild’s, Crystal Ocean, in a spell-binding drive, to win by a neck.
It earned her an automatic berth into the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf.
The Breeders’ Cup Challenge is an international series of 86 stakes races whose successors receive automatic starting positions and fees paid into a corresponding race of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, to be held at Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California, Nov 1-2.
As part of benefits of the Challenge series, Breeders’ Cup will pay entry fees for Enable, who won last year’s Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs.
Also, a handsome $40,000 travel allowance for all starters based outside of North America to compete in the World Championships, is being handed out.
Enable, owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah and trained by John Gosden, bagged her 12th race in 13 starts – 11th consecutively. A bay daughter of Nathaniel out of Concentric, by Sadler’s Wells, Enable, a two-time Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe girl, is now a two-timer of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Dettori was emotionally and physically exhausted. He literally carried Enable past Crystal Ocean. Off at 8-15 on, Enable stuck towards the back while Norway set an uncontested and solitary early pace.
Magic Wand and Hunting Horn from the same O’Brien’s stable, were chasing Norway until a few furlongs out.
Crystal Ocean (James Doyle 7-1), then made a move which did not falter until Dettori battled on with all his might.
Waldgeist, Salouen, Hunting Horn, and, Cheval Grand, were packed tightly behind, overtaking Magic Wand on the wane. Anthony Van Dyck did not ignite.
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