Enable, the Eternal Champion, Inducted into the British Horseracing Hall of Fame

The formidable mare will be inducted this Saturday into the prestigious group, alongside trainer Major Dick Hern

Enable was one of the greatest mares of all time / ASCOT

LONDRÉS, Inglaterra (Special for Turf Diario).- This Saturday, British racing will welcome two new names into its Hall of Fame, and one of them is synonymous with greatness: Enable, the Juddmonte mare who captured the world’s imagination across five unforgettable seasons and carved her place among the sport’s all-time legends. Alongside her, the late trainer Major Dick Hern will also be honored, both recognized as “modern greats” in a ceremony that will take place during QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot.

A daughter of Nathaniel carrying the colors of the late Prince Khalid Abdullah, Enable raced 19 times between 2016 and 2020, winning 15—including 11 at the G1 level in four different countries. She was the first horse to capture the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes three times at Ascot, and one of only eight to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe twice. Her international résumé also included a career-defining triumph in the 2018 GI Breeders’ Cup Turfat Churchill Downs, which solidified her status as a global superstar.

Her trainer, John Gosden, offered words that spoke to her unique brilliance: “I’ve never known a mare like her, able to handle so much training and such intensity on the track. What she did at three—the Oaks, the Irish Oaks, the King George, the Yorkshire Oaks and then the Arc—was something unrepeatable. I doubt I’ll ever have another like her in my lifetime. She was truly one of those once-in-a-lifetime mares.”

From Juddmonte, Simon Mockridge, the operation’s U.K. stud director, singled out her first Arc at Chantilly as the crowning moment: “It wasn’t at Longchamp, the field was packed, the draw was against her, and yet she won with total authority. That year she was nearly untouchable: seven starts, six wins by a combined 24 lengths. She was simply superior.” Now retired to the paddocks at Banstead Manor in Newmarket, Enable continues her story as a broodmare, with hopes her legacy will live on through her offspring.

But Saturday’s ceremony will also celebrate a man who defined an era. Major Dick Hern, who passed away in 2002, is remembered as one of the great trainers of the second half of the 20th century. A four-time champion trainer in Britain, he won 16 Classics, including three Derbys—with Troy, Henbit and Nashwan—and collected every Irish Classic at least once. He also became the first trainer to saddle five winners of the King George.

His name remains inseparable from champions such as Dayjur (Danzig), who lit up 1990 with a blistering campaign, and the unforgettable Nashwan (Blushing Groom), whom Hern guided to greatness despite his own paralysis following a riding accident. As journalist Brough Scott, a member of the selection panel, recalled: “Of all his achievements, nothing compares to what he did with Nashwan in 1989. Already paralyzed, he relied solely on his eye to train him, and still produced a masterpiece.”

Nick Smith, co-chair of the committee, summarized the double recognition: “There was unanimous agreement that both Enable and Dick Hern are entirely deserving of their place in the Hall of Fame. Enable became a household name worldwide, while Hern’s career, achieved even through adversity, was simply remarkable.”

Their inductions bring the number of British racing immortals to 26, a roll call that already includes Frankel (Galileo), Brigadier Gerard (Queen’s Hussar), Nijinsky (Northern Dancer), Sea The Stars (Cape Cross), Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) and Goldikova (Anabaa), along with training icons Vincent O’Brien, Sir Henry Cecil, Sir Michael Stoute and Aidan O’Brien.