Khalid Abdulla's statuesque champion Enable provided her legion of adoring fans what they craved when making a winning seasonal debut in Saturday's Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.
The 5yo daughter of Nathaniel equalled the feat of her sire by winning the race at their first start of the year.
Frankie Dettori had Enable travelling sweetly on the outside of the pacesetter Hunting Horn while Ryan Moore on old foe Magical tracked the champion every step of the way.
When Enable hits the front there are few horses in the world that could run her down and just like the Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs last November, Magical (Galileo) could get no closer than three-quarters of a length. (image Sporting Life )
Regal Reality (Intello) was two lengths behind Magical in third while Australian Bloodstock's Australian-bound Danceteria (Redoute's Choice) was doing his best work at the finish to be a further two and a quarter lengths back in fourth.
It was the tenth consecutive win for Enable since suffering her only defeat when third behind her then bettered fancied stablemate Shutter Speed in a 10-furlong conditions race at Newbury back in April 2017.
It was the eighth Group 1 for the John Gosden-trained mare who looks on track for an historic Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe treble after Gosden revealed he has left plenty in the tank.
"It's been a long preparation and she's only started coming to herself in the last two weeks. Quite frankly she's come here at 85 percent, maybe 90, and in the last furlong I was concerned," winning trainer John Gosden told ITV Racing.
"I told Frankie 'if she gets tired, you look after her' this is not a prep, it's an Eclipse, but a prep for the rest of the year.
"I couldn't be more pleased with her. She got a lovely ride and Frankie always wanted to be where he was. She's an exceptional athlete.
"Like her father (Nathaniel), to come from an eight-month lay-off to win an Eclipse is not an easy thing and she's done it all herself. The King George is the plan.
"There was a magnificent mare in second and they say a filly hasn't won this since Kooyonga, well you had a one-two there and that tells you a lot about Magical as well as her. I'm sure they will meet again in the King George.
"She is a filly that we can hopefully get to the King George, York (Juddmonte International) and Longchamp (Arc). It has always been the plan, those four races, so this has been a good start."
Enable advances her record to 11 wins and a third from 12 starts highlighted by the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (twice), Ascot King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Breeders' Cup Turf, Coral-Eclipse Stakes, The Oaks, Irish Oaks, and Yorkshire Oaks.
Inbred 3x2 to the great Sadler's Wells, Enable is one of five winners from as many to race out of the stakes-winning Sadler's Wells mare Concentric who is sister to Group II winner and French Oaks runner-up Dance Routine (dam of 5-time Gr 1 winner Flintshire and stakes-winner Dance Moves), Light Ballet (dam of stakes-winner Penchee), and a three-quarter-sister to Gr II winner and Gr 1-placed Daring Miss (dam of stakes-winner Destruct), Gr III winner Apsis, Engraving (dam of stakes-winner Virtual Game), and a half-sister to stakes-winner Space Quest (dam of stakes-winner Kocab).
