Enable, Magical meet again in Yorkshire Oaks

The August 22 Darley Yorkshire Oaks (G1) at York in England is always a prestigious event, but this year, the presence of superstar mare #1 Enable has elevated the race to a new level.

With nine group 1 victories under her belt, including back-to-back triumphs in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1), Enable is already a legend. An unprecedented three-peat in the Arc would place her in rarefied air among the sport’s most elite racehorses, but first she’ll gear up for the challenge with a prep run in the Yorkshire Oaks.

From a handicapping perspective it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Enable falls to defeat. She won this race by five lengths in 2017 and has kicked off her 2019 campaign in fine form, as she has defeated males in both the 1 1/4-mile Coral-Eclipse Stakes (G1) and the 1 1/2-mile King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G1). With 11 consecutive victories to her credit (and a 12-for-13 record overall), Enable has been nothing less than a winning machine for trainer John Gosden and jockey Frankie Dettori.

Enable’s only challenge figures to come from #3 Magical, who finished less than a length behind Enable in both the Coral-Eclipse and the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1). Trained by Aidan O’Brien, this gallant daughter of Galileo is a worthy opponent for the superstar, but although she’s pushed Enable on a couple of occasions, turning the tables in the Yorkshire Oaks will be a task easier said than done.

In the Coral-Eclipse, Enable turned back Magical in her first start of the season and over a distance shorter than her best. Now Enable has a couple runs under her belt and will face Magical over 1 1/2 miles, a distance at which Enable is undefeated in nine starts.

Plus, there’s the “heart” factor. Enable is a textbook example of a horse possessing the will to win. On a few occasions, most recently in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Enable has been pushed to the brink of defeat by talented rivals. And every time, Enable has dug deep, found something extra and battled back to win.

Bettors looking to play the Yorkshire Oaks probably shouldn’t invest heavily in trying to beat Enable. All form points to Enable as a near-certain winner, with Magical a clear runner-up, though these two will so thoroughly dominate the wagering that even a cold exacta is unlikely to produce a meaningful payoff.

So if you want to play the Yorkshire Oaks, I suggest going one step further and tackling a cold trifecta. It shouldn’t be much harder to hit. Only two other fillies have been entered in the Yorkshire Oaks, and one—Aidan O’Brien’s #4 South Sea Pearl—is a significant longshot possibly entered to serve as a pacemaker for Magical.

This leaves the classic-placed #2 Lah Ti Dar as the obvious choice to round out the trifecta. She might not be in the same league as Enable and Magical, but this Gosden-trained 4-year-old towers over South Sea Pearl in terms of accomplishments and Racing Post Ratings. A repeat of her recent third-place finish in the 1 1/2-mile Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1) should be sufficient to land her on the board.

$30 trifecta: 1 with 3 with 2

Good luck!