Though it hardly seems possible, Khalid Abdullah and his Juddmonte Farms have outdone themselves in terms of audacious breeding in the creation of super-mare Enable, who on July 6, 2019, won the Coral Eclipse S.-G1 with ease, and with her trainer, John Gosden, saying she was only 85% fit. She is en route to her third Prix de le Arc de Triomph S.-G1, which she has won two years in a row, beating the boys with astonishing ease.

Her pedigree is a masterpiece of bravado inbreeding, creating a new nick that must raise eyebrows of pedigree nerds everywhere. It must be noted that the irrepressible Frankie Dettori rode Enable, after telling the press that she was “coming along nicely.” And understatement is not usually his forte. Enable’s sire, Nathaniel, stands at Newsells Park Stud in Newmarket, England, for 25,000 Euros, and won the Coral Eclipse S.-G1 just as his daughter has, as well as being Champion Three-Year-Old Colt in England and Champion Older Horse at four in Europe.

Nathaniel entered stud in 2013, making Enable a product of his first crop. What led Juddmonte to breed their lovely Sadler’s Wells mare, Concentric, to this untested commodity? Allow me to attempt to read the minds of the Abdullah/Juddmonte brain trust. Enable is inbred to Sadler’s Wells three by two, very close. Prevailing wisdom, which is frequently incorrect in terms of breeding theorems, states that inbreeding any closer than a number that adds up to seven is too close; Enable’s number is five.

Young Nathaniel, however, is a son of the ubiquitous Galileo, who has dominated European racing for years, and whose sons and grandsons continue to dominate the biggest races on that continent and in England and Ireland. Though Galileo is a son of Sadler’s Wells, my guess is that Juddmonte believes Galileo has begun his own sireline, separate and split off from that of Sadler’s Wells, much as Fappiano has done with his own sire, Mr. Prospector, making the Fappiano/Mr. P. cross commonplace and successful in North American breeding.

Want to guess how many Sadler’s Wells mares have been bred to Nathaniel? One. Concentric, with the sole offspring from that cross being Enable. Has Juddmonte begun a trend? I believe the answer has got to be yes. Expect to see many more Sadler’s Wells mares mated to the many great sons and grandsons of reigning king and first of his line, Galileo.

-- Roberta Smoodin