Shadwell’s Enbihaar aims for another milestone for Redoute’s
Friday’s Lonsdale Cup favourite, from the champion Australian stallion’s second French crop, will fly the flag for the late Arrowfield stalwart
The legendary Redoute’s Choice (Danehill) will be out to break new ground on Friday night when his daughter Enbihaar lines up as favourite in the Lonsdale Cup (Gr 2, 2m) at York, amidst a bevy of races set to throw up possible Australian contenders.
The four-day Ebor meeting at York, which begins tonight, has become known as something of a hunting ground for antipodean buyers and potential Australian travellers with a raft of races set to throw up horses who will one day step out on the other side of the world.
The Lonsdale Cup is the day three feature and will be eagerly watched by Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) futures players with horses like Dashing Willoughby (Nathaniel), now part-owned by New Zealand businessman Sir Owen Glenn, and OTI Racing’s True Self (Oscar) likely travellers.
It is a race that often produces a Melbourne Cup candidate, including subsequent Flemington third Il Paradiso (Galileo) last year. However, the leading contender is likely to be John Gosden’s bonny mare Enbihaar as she steps up to the two miles for the first time.
Racing in the Shadwell blue and white – just like her Australian namesake, Group 2 winner Enbihaar (Magnus), who was also owned by Sheikh Hamdan – the English Enbihaar is one of the leading lights from Redoute’s Choice’s two seasons in which he shuttled to France.
In 2013 and 2014, the Arrowfield stalwart stood at the Aga Khan’s Haras de Bonneval, covering some of Europe’s finest mares.
Enbihaar’s dam Chanterelle (Trempolino) may not have been a leading light among that group, which included Zarkava (Zamindar), Born Gold (Blushing Groom) and Shareta (Sinndar), but the exploits of her daughter have put her in rare territory.
Redoute’s Choice has provided the Shadwell operation with plenty of success: a Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner in Nadeem, three South African top-level winners in Rafeef, Mustaaqeem and Majmu and a stallion prospect with Elzaam. However, Enbihaar is the icing on the cake, the perfect addition to an already fruitful relationship, according to Sheikh Hamdan’s racing manager Angus Gold.
“We’ve bought a lot of Redoute’s Choice yearlings over the years and we’ve had some particularly good ones,” Gold told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday. “Nadeem was from his first crop – annoyingly I was the underbidder on Miss Finland, which was a pity – but we’ve also had the two brothers, Rafeef and Mustaaqeem and Majmu, who was a champion, a fabulous filly.
“We also sent nine mares down to Australia from Europe to be covered by Redoute’s Choice to northern hemisphere time and they came back here. From the eight foals that were returned, three of those were stakes winners.
“We then bought a little horse called Elzaam who we bought at Deauville and was second in the Coventry at Ascot as a two-year-old.
“He has had a massive influence on us, really. From our point of view, Nadeem was early days and we got a stallion from his first crop, Majmu, the sprinting brothers and now Enbihaar. We’ve also got some lovely broodmares on the farm in Australia by Redoute’s, and he’s doing a wonderful job as a broodmare sire as we all know, so hopefully his influence will live on for a long time to come.
“He was an extraordinary, exceptional stallion. His name will appear for a long time to come – both through his sons and his daughters. He was an amazing horse, a horse of incredible presence when you saw him; a big, strong, scopey horse. It was amazing he was as athletic as he was for the size of him.
“It’s lovely to finish off with one of the last of his progeny over here to be as good as she is.”
A Listed winner at just her fourth start when she had just turned four, taking the Daisy Warwick Fillies’ Stakes (Listed, 1m 4f), she added three Group 2 wins during her four-year-old season last year, taking the Lancashire Oaks (Gr 2, 1m 4f), the Lillie Langtry Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 6f) and the Park Hill Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 6.5f) in succession.
Last start, Enbihaar added a second Lillie Langtry to her record, setting her up for a tilt against the males in the Lonsdale Cup. It is another unlikely step in a career that Gold says has been filled with surprises.
“It was amazing to me that he (Sheikh Hamdan) kept her in training as a five-year-old,” Gold said. “In my 34 years he’s only ever done that once before, and that was probably 30 years ago. They normally all retire as three-year-olds, and we kept her in training as she never really had a chance as a three-year-old.
“She was very immature and had a few niggling problems, so therefore we persuaded him to keep her in training as a four-year-old. And then luckily he decided to keep her in training again. He was enjoying her so much last year. She will definitely go to stud at the end of this year.
“We were pressing him to keep another filly, Nazeef, in training, and luckily he agreed to it and she’s gone on and won a Group 1 this year, so that was satisfying. And on the back of her he decided to keep Enbihaar in training as well. She’s very lightly raced and had her enthusiasm still and enjoyed her racing, so that always helps.
“Enbihaar has this fantastic action – a lovely galloping stride on her. We think she’ll get the two miles, so we’ll see, but she’s done us proud whatever, she’s been a star and kept her enthusiasm going the whole way.”
Significantly, victory would give the late Redoute’s Choice another milestone with his first Group winner at two miles.
While Redoute’s Choice was a top sprinter-miler and is renowned as a producer of similar stock, he has proven versatile in the stallion barn. Classy fillies Miss Finland, Samantha Miss and Royal Descent were able to win from sprint trips to the mile and a half of an Oaks, while his Derby winners have included Wylie Hall, Redoute’s Dancer, Howard Be Thy Name, Empires Choice and the filly Dariana.
He has had one stakes-winning two-miler before in La Amistad, who took out the Andrew Ramsden Stakes (Listed, 3200m) at Flemington in 2015. She had as good a pedigree as any to handle the Flemington 3200 metres as a three-quarter sister to three-time Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva (Desert King).
“Like all good stallions, he could throw anything,” Gold said. “On the whole they are shorter runners than what she is, but she’s from a stout European family. I think also the other thing, like with so many horses – like Fastnet Rock for example – is that when Redoute’s Choice came over here all the Europeans thought, ‘he’s a fast horse, we’ll send some staying mares to him’ and on the whole, what you get out of that is staying horses.
“A lot of breeders expected the stallions to put speed into their slower mares and it didn’t always work. And this mare, there’s a bit of stamina in there.”
The Melbourne Cup would be an unlikely target for Enbihaar in any given year, but particularly one in which travel restrictions are heightened due to Covid-19. Instead, she is likely to travel across the English Channel once more to try and snare that elusive Group 1 win in the Prix de Royallieu (Gr 1, 1m 6f) on Arc weekend.
The other leading Melbourne Cup lead-up comes with Saturday’s Ebor (1m 6f), traditionally the richest handicap in Europe and last year worth £1 million (A$1.82 million), although this year the prize fund stands at just a quarter of that amount.
Australian-owned horses Pondus (Sea The Moon), Le Don De Vie (Leroidesanimaux) and Almania (Australia) will try to advance their claims for a Melbourne campaign, while horses like Trueshan (Planteur) have also been the subject of offers from Australian buyers.
The Phoenix Thoroughbreds-owned Deja (Youmzain), considered a potential Ebor contender, is also a potential visitor after the operation announced last week it was pulling out of British racing.
Day 1 of Ebor Festival to produce other Australian clues
Tonight’s Juddmonte International (Gr 1, 1m 2.5f) has been used by Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) aspirants before, although the withdrawal of Aspetar (Al Kazeem) means that it is unlikely to be a guide this year.
“I wasn’t convinced his last piece of work was up to scratch,” the five-year-old’s trainer Roger Charlton told Racing Post. “We did a routine blood test on him this morning, got the results this evening and decided it wouldn’t be right for him to run in a Group 1 race.
“There aren’t any obvious targets, but the Prix Dollar on Arc weekend is a possibility. We are still considering going to Australia for the Cox Plate, but that will depend on the Australian authorities. Ultimately the Emir’s Trophy in Qatar in February will be high on his agenda.”
The Great Voltigeur Stakes (Gr 2, 1m 4f), the primary lead-in to next month’s St Leger (Gr 1, 1m 6.5f), has also proven a strong pointer to Melbourne success in recent years.
Not since 2006 has the race been absent either a horse who would do his future racing in Australia or a horse who would perform in our biggest races. Of the five runners last year, winner Logician (Frankel) went on to land the St Leger, runner-up Constantinople (Galileo) started favourite in the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) at his next start and third-placed Norway (Galileo) joined Chris Waller at the start of 2020.
In 2018, Cross Counter (Teofilo) was runner-up to his stablemate Old Persian (Dubawi); at his next start, he took out the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m).
Bluebloods Mogul (Galileo) and Darain (Dubawi) head the market, with both likely to progress to the St Leger. Neither are likely to be seen in Australia this spring, although Mogul does hold a Cox Plate entry.