Enable, the Oaks, King George and Arc winner, has been named Cartier horse of the year at the 27th annual Cartier Awards at the Dorchester Hotel in London.

Those three triumphs were the highlights in a run of six wins after her seasonal reappearance, which also included the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks, taking her Group 1 tally for the year to five.

Those five successes came with an aggregate winning total of 22 and a half lengths, so the announcement of the John Gosden-trained, Khalid Abdullah-owned filly as Cartier’s horse of the year came as little surprise to the 300 guests at the awards dinner on Tuesday evening. The other nominees for the main award were Ribchester, Cracksman and Ulysses.

Enable becomes the second consecutive three-year-old filly to win the award, following Minding last year. She is the sixth overall of her age and gender to win the award, which was inaugurated in 1991 and taken that year by Arazi, the sole juvenile winner to date.

Her victory extends a remarkable run for Gosden, who has now been the winning trainer in three of the last four years following Kingman in 2014 and Golden Horn in 2015.

Four of the last seven winners have worn Abdullah’s famous green, white and pink silks, following Frankel (2011, 2012) and Kingman. He is tied with Sue Magnier as the most successful owner in the award’s history.

Enable also took the three-year-old filly category and her trainer doubled up with Cracksman in the three-year-old colt category.

There were plenty of nods to the record-breaking season enjoyed by Aidan O’Brien, as he took the two-year-old filly (Happily) and colt (US Navy Flag) awards, while Order Of St George won the stayers’ prize for the second year running.

The other awards went to Harry Angel (sprinter), Ulysses (older horse) and Sir Michael Stoute, the trainer of Ulysses, who received the order of merit award in recognition of his outstanding 45-year career.

Cartier’s racing consultant Harry Herbert said: “It has been another tremendous year in European horseracing and I would like to extend congratulations to all the winners at the 2017 Cartier Racing Awards.

“Enable enjoyed five commanding victories at Group 1 level and her performances, particularly at Ascot and Chantilly, mark her out as a filly of rare distinction. She is a very appropriate winner of Cartier Horse of the Year. 

“The prospect of Enable, Cracksman and Harry Angel, the Cartier Sprinter for 2017, all returning next year is a mouthwatering prospect.”

2017 CARTIER RACING AWARDS

Cartier Horse of the Year Enable owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah
Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt US Navy Flag
Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly Happily
Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt Cracksman
Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly Enable
Cartier Sprinter Harry Angel
Cartier Stayer Order Of St George
Cartier Older Horse Ulysses
Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award of Merit Sir Michael Stoute

fonte : RacingPost