The family
Enemy At The Gate is a son of the fair flat performer/modest
hurdler Biondo who won a couple of races over 7f on the level and
then added two 2 mile hurdles, all when trained in Ireland. She was
a tough race-mare, and ran from the yards of first Ger Lyons and
then Paul Nolan
Biondo has bred 11 foals to date, easily the best of whom has been the useful hurdler/chaser Wilton Milan. That Milan gelding won a couple of hurdles and two over fences when trained by Nicholls and then Skelton from 2012 to 2015.
The granddam,
Insight was unraced but in addition to Biondo has bred another 2
winners.
The 3rd dam Kristar was a winner on the level in Italy and bred 2
winners the best of which was Impulse a 7f winner for Alan Jarvis.
About the sire
Fame and Glory (bay horse, born 2006) was trained by Aiden O'Brien throughout his race career. A very tough top class horse he raced for 5 seasons and 27 races, being successful 14 times.
Season 2023-24 outlook
So, following an extended period of box rest, Enemy At The Gate kick
started his career with a nice re-introduction in a 2 mile novice hurdle
at Ayr in January 2023. He came out of that race sound much to the
relief of his patient connections, but perhaps
suffered from the dreaded bounce when down the field a month later in a
handicap over
course and distance.
Upped in distance by ½ mile next time at Newcastle, he jumped the last
with a slight lead but despite battling fiercely went down by ¾
length with 14 lengths back to the 3rd horse.
On his final run, he was again placed over the same Newcastle trip but
didn't race with his usual zest. Nevertheless we were delighted with his
return to racing overall that season after such a long period on the
sidelines.
He's been back in the yard since mid August and working steadily each morning on the gallops to build up strength without putting too much stress on his legs. A fair hurdler, keep an eye out for this good looking 7-yr-old Fame and Glory gelding re-appearing in November, with perhaps an outing or two over fences later in the season.
Profile....
Enemy At The Gate had a couple of runs in bumpers in his first season
(2020-21) here at Dodlands and showed a fair level of form on each
occasion.
After finishing 3rd of 4 on
debut at Ayr in March where the ground was bottomless, the
5-year-old's next run
was a month later at Hexham on good ground running a nice race to be
5th of 9.
That first run is the race that impressed us. 4th horse Fortescue
Wood is a fairly useful dual winning hurdler and is highly regarded at Kinneston
Nick's yard while the winner Nell's Son is now a useful Grade 2 winning hurdler.
Even when 5th in his second bumper, 3 of those in front of him have now
won over hurdles.
Season 2021-22 started with a nice run in a Carlisle novice hurdle - full of subsequent winners - but unfortunately Enemy At The Gate picked up an injury which meant he missed the rest of the year and the next one too.
Season | win | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | other | |
2020-21 | NH Flat | 1 | 1 | |||
2021-22 | Hurdles | 2 | ||||
2022-23 | Hurdles | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
2023-24 | Hurdles | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |