Ready, willing and enabled – how a star was born

On February 12, 2014, the bay filly by Nathaniel who had just been foaled tipped the scales at 125lb. This was greeted with nods of approval at Banstead Manor Stud, near Newmarket, the European nerve centre of Juddmonte Farms.

“We have noticed over the years that most of our better racehorses tend to weigh in at between 121lb and 126lb at birth,” reflects Juddmonte’s stud director, Simon Mockridge. “I like to see that at foaling. She was at the upper end of where we like them to be.”

It’s the sort of detail that matters at Prince Khalid Abdullah’s nurseries. Studious attention is paid to what other breeders might feel is superfluous information. In the case of this filly, who would be named Enable, it would prove portentous. She would evolve into the formidable runner who has dominated the season to date and who will start a hot favourite to win the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday.