Frankie Dettori has won the Henry II Stakes at Sandown Racecourse five times in his career already and he could make it six on Thursday. The Italian maestro is very selective about his rides now on what is his final year riding before retirement so it has to be telling that he travels to Sandown for just one ride on the day. We put up a similar piece at York last week as he travelled there for just one ride on Soul Sister, and she duly obliged at tasty odds. Let’s take a look at his ride in more detail now.
Dettori will take the ride on the Ian Williams trained Enemy in what is a fascinating renewal of the Group 3 contest. This horse won the valuable Queen’s Cup heritage handicap at Musselburgh last year over 1m6f, and went on to finish a very close third behind Pricess Zoe and Quickthorn in the Group 3 Sagaro Stakes at Ascot.
Quickthorn went on to have a fabulous season last term to give that form a real strong boost. While Enemy’s form tailed off a bit after that, he bounced right back to form when scoring readily in a Meydan handicap over 1m4f in January. He hated heavy ground when disappointing at Chester this month, but back on a sound surface he will be a major threat to all in this field.
On official figures, Enemy should be winning this really and the fact they have booked Dettori for the ride must mean that they think he will win too. Best of luck if you have a bet on the horse.
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