Star mare Enable secured the tenth Group One victory of her career when taking out the Yorkshire Oaks (2400m) at York on Thursday.
“She felt great and she’s had a great send-off in front of the English people,” jockey Frankie Detorri said.
“I was always in control today. The temptation in the past on her has always been to kick a bit too soon but today I thought I’d let Ryan (Moore, on Magical) come to me before I kicked.
“When I gave her a little tap she put her head down, and I knew then I’d won.
“In fairness we wanted an exercise canter. But Magical made a race of it, because she’s very solid.”
Thursday’s race was her British swansong, with Enable set to try and add a third Gr.1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (2400m) to her record in October, and trainer John Gosden was pleased with the mare’s efforts in her final race on home soil.
“Magical came to her, but she found a lot in the last 400 metres,” he said. “To that extent she showed her class and it was a good performance.
“She’s not a filly that likes to be let all the way down, so between the King George (Gr.1, 2400m) and the Arc was too big a gap. She prefers to be let down a little and then brought back up for a race.”
The daughter of Nathaniel has only tasted defeat once in 14 starts, placing third behind Shutter Speed in the Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup Stakes at Newbury in her second start.
