Frankie Dettori will have a “blank canvas” from John Gosden when he bids to steer Enable to victory in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes.
The brilliant mare is bidding for an unprecedented third victory in the Ascot showpiece, having destroyed her field as a three-year-old in 2017 before regaining her crown after a pulsating duel with Crystal Ocean 12 months ago.
The six-year-old’s three rivals this weekend are all trained by Aidan O’Brien, but Gosden is relaxed about the situation as he prepares for Enable’s historic hat-trick bid.
Dettori will once again be on board the favourite, with Ryan Moore electing to partner Japan over his two O’Brien-trained stable companions Anthony Van Dyck and Sovereign – who will be ridden by Oisin Murphy and Gosden’s former stable jockey William Buick respectively.
As usual, Gosden will not be giving the popular Italian any riding instructions.
He said: “Frankie likes to train them as well as me. I think it would be a dangerous thing if I tried to ride her – we might have a problem with the weights!
“Enable can make the running or you can put her in the middle or at the back – you can put her wherever you want her. We’ll leave that up to Frankie.
“In a race of this nature, with a small field, it’s going to be tactical. You go in there with a blank canvas – you do not, under any circumstances, say ‘we’re going to do this’. Let’s see how it pans out and see what the Ballydoyle horses do.
“It will be tactically fascinating. We always have a plan in a race, but quite often you go to Plan B, which is a blank canvas. In this one, it’s a blank canvas at Plan A.
“I don’t see anything too sinister ahead. The horses up against us are ridden by gentlemen who ride for me a lot, too.”
Gosden admits the lack of runners from other yards is a blow to the race – and hopes it is mainly a result of the delayed start to the season because of the coronavirus pandemic, rather than a wider issue.
He said: “I think we’ve walked into a freakish year. It’s disappointing that other stables from England, Ireland, France and Germany can’t produce horses for the race, but the horses just aren’t there.
“Is it the breeding programme, is it the fact that some owner-breeders aren’t there any more, is it because there is too much emphasis on breeding for commercial speed? These are questions we could debate for hours.
“The Hardwicke Stakes is often a platform to the King George. That was won by a filly (Fanny Logan) – and let’s be honest, the older horses in the Hardwicke weren’t a vintage group.
“You’ve had April and May disappear on us, because of this hideous disease, and consequently the three-year-olds weren’t able to develop through those races and be battle-hardened.
“Aidan won both the Derby and the Oaks (with Serpentine and Love), so it was his choice if he wanted to bring one of those to the King George, and he’s decided to stick with the older brigade.
“There have been lots of races with no three-year-olds, and I think next year will be a different, but there is now a bit of an addiction to breeding for commercial speed – and I think we must be very careful that we don’t start losing middle-distance races, because they are essential.”
