CHAMPION trainer John Gosden is looking forward to bringing the outstanding Enable back to York Racecourse for next week's Darley Yorkshire Oaks.

The five-year-old mare, owned by Prince Khalid Abdullah, has become a racing superstar over the last three seasons, winning 11 races on the trot.

Nine of those successes have been at Group 1 level, including the 2017 renewal of the Darley Yorkshire Oaks, which she landed by five lengths from stable-mate, Coronet.

This season has already seen her triumphing in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, followed up by a memorable win in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot last month.

Connections have long outlined that the big target is the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, which Enable will attempt to win for an unprecedented third straight season.

Newmarket-based Gosden said: “We are pointing at the Yorkshire Oaks – we were keen to stay at a mile and a half, rather than coming back in trip again – and obviously trying to use it as a springboard to the Arc.

“She has had a nice easy time since the King George. She just did a breeze on her own with Frankie (Dettori) on her on Saturday – into a strong headwind, so they just did a nice quiet bit. She’ll pick up again in her work this week, but she is out there enjoying herself, looking well and moving nicely.

“She’s a lovely filly, obviously, and she has done extremely well this year. She really enjoys her training and her racing, which obviously makes the trainer’s job a lot easier. Everyone is interested in her when she is out on the Heath. So we are very lucky to have a filly like that in the stables.

“Obviously it comes with plenty of responsibility but all being well we’ll be there next Thursday with her. She has been to York before. The crowd were thrilled to see her last time she was there when she came after the King George.”

From a raft of other entries in the £400,000 race on Thursday, Gosden expects Enable to be joined by Lah Ti Dar with the likes of Coronet, Anapurna and Star Catcher having planned assignments elsewhere.

Lah Ti Dar is proven at York, having won at last year’s Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival in the Listed British EBF and Sir Henry Cecil Galtres Stakes and also at Group Two level in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Middleton Stakes in May.

Gosden said: “Lah Ti Dar may well be in the Oaks as well. The owner-breeders are very keen to run her – they’ve been wanting to run her in the race all year, so I’m sure that’s where she’ll probably be going. She is training nicely.”

The following day – Friday, August 23 – Stradivarius will seek to win the Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup for a second successive year. If he is victorious, the brilliant five-year-old will land the £1 million Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers Bonus again; after pulling off a series of big-race successes in the past two years.

So far this season Stradivarius has once more triumphed in the Matchbook Yorkshire Cup, the Gold Cup at Royal and, late last month, the Qatar Goodwood Cup.

Gosden said: “He is as cheeky as ever! He is full of himself, a very happy horse. He is training up nicely for the race. Obviously, the Goodwood Cup was not that long ago, so we come into the Lonsdale just trying to keep the freshness in him.”

On the opening day of the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival – Wednesday, August 21 – Gosden is planning to send out King Of Comedy in the £1 million Juddmonte International Stakes.

The Kingman colt finished a narrowly-beaten second in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot last time out and will step up to an extended mile and a quarter for his Knavesmire appointment.

Gosden said: “We feel that is his trip. Since Royal Ascot this has been the plan.”

He added: “We feel York is a phenomenal racecourse and the Ebor meeting is a real stand-out in the year. And I always say the Yorkshire crowd are definitely the most knowledgeable and the most passionate of race-goers. So it’s very fulfilling if you can find horses good enough to run in these races.”

The Welcome To Yorkshire Ebor Festival runs from Wednesday, August 21 until Saturday, August 24.