The weather did its best to rain on her parade but it made no difference to Enable who came home the easy winner of Saturday’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (12f) at Ascot.
Run in steady rain, Enable settled comfortably in second place as Sovereign set a moderate speed with Japan last of the three at halfway.
Sovereign was flat out into the straight with Frankie Dettori sitting motionless on Enable, waiting until two furlongs out before pulling down his goggles, sneaking a look behind to see Japan under pressure, and then allowing Enable to accelerate and the race, as a contest, was over.
Enable strode clear to defeat Sovereign (Galileo) by 5-1/2 lengths with Japan (Galileo) fully 11 lengths further away.
Enable is the first horse to win Britain’s premier middle-distance race three times and it is her 11th win at the highest level.
Trainer John Gosden told ITV he had the six-year-old daughter of Nathaniel ready to run today.
“She’s trained beautifully for this,” Gosden said.
“I was clear she wasn’t tuned up properly for (her comeback run in) the Eclipse, but she’s back in top order, there’s no doubt about that.
“I was expecting to see that, but life can be full of disappointments.
“Some great horses have won this twice – but to do it three times, she’s quite some race mare.”
A typically ebullient Dettori drew level with Lester Piggott winning the race for a seventh time and performed his flying dismount to an empty winning enclosure but neither that or the rain did not dampen his enthusiasm.
“She’s unbelievable. She’s six, but John has done a great job,” Dettori said.
“Three King Georges has never been done before – and now we’re going to try the impossible and win three Arcs!
“I love her so much.”