Wonder mare Enable’s bid for Arc history falls sadly flat

The six-year-old – kept in training by owner Prince Khalid Abdullah in the hope of making turf history – could only finish sixth to Sottsass at ParisLongchamp.

On paper, Enable’s task was made slightly easier on the night before the Arc after Aidan O’Brien pulled out his four runners to protect the integrity of the race after his yard was one of those to be caught up in a contaminated feed controversy.

But the consequence was that Europe’s most prestigious race was run at a more conservative early pace than the end-to-end gallop that played to Enable’s strengths in her 2017 and 2018 triumphs.

To the surprise of some, Dettori, 49, did not try to dominate the race from the start and press the pacemaking Persian King who was ultimately third despite not being a proven stayer.

And, as the tightly-packed field turned for home and began a sprint to the line, she was struggling to gallop through heavy ground, and which had turned sticky, when she became involved in a momentary coming together of several horses that saw her lose her position action.

From then onwards, she was nursed home by Dettori who said the ground was “too deep” and “killed her action”.

However trainer John Gosden, watching from the sales at Newmarket, did raise the tantalising possibility that his stable star might have one more race.

He reported both Enable, and stablemate Stradivarius who was ultimately seventh, to be fine after what he described as a “rather elaborate journey for a piece of work up the Longchamp straight”.

“It was that drying holding ground when you get a lot of rain,” reported Gosden who was candid enough on Saturday to concede that he thought conditions had gone against Enable. “Frankie said she was never travelling on that ground.”

Gosden, the champion trainer, also observed that it had been harder to get the mare in tip-top shape at the age of six, though the decision to keep her in training was vindicated by a third success in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.

“It was just a pity it wasn’t good to soft ground and a good gallop,” said Gosden who, with typical graciousness, said he had been fortunate to have ideal conditions for Enable’s two Arc wins.

As for the mare’s immediate future, Gosden will wait for the horse to return to his Newmarket stables before having a conversation with the aforementioned Prince Khalid and the owner’s racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe.

Grimthorpe, the outgoing chairman of York Racecourse, was present in Paris and said in the immediate aftermath of Enable’s defeat: “She just wasn’t able to go on the ground, really and truly. She’s had a good position, Frankie’s been happy with her but she just couldn’t pick up like we’d normally expect her to.

“We’ll see how she is when she gets back and talk to John and Prince Khalid and make a plan. There will be no decisions [on retirement] at this stage.”

As for Sottsass, the 2019 French Derby hero was third in the race 12 months ago and trainer Jean-Claude Rouget had stated that only one day mattered for the four-year-old this year.

Winning jockey Cristian Demuro endured a relatively smooth passage, the only concern being the post-race stewards’ inquiry for possible interference at one point.

“It was minor and did not alter the outcome of the 100th renewal of European racing’s ultimate contest for mile and a half thoroughbreds.”

However one mare did make racing history in the French capital when One Master became the first ever three-time winner of the Group One Prix de la Foret for Yorkshire-born trainer William Haggas.

She clung on from Earthlight and the rallying Liberty Beach who was third for Malton trainer John Quinn and jockey Jason Hart, beaten a neck and short head, on an ultimately frustrating day for Yorkshire-trained runners on Arc day.

Richard Fahey’s filly Fev Rover, named in deference to the Featherstone Rovers rugby league team, was fourth in the Prix Marcel Boussac after being hampered.

Meanwhile the Prix de l’Abbaye sprint saw the French-trained Wooded prevail from three Yorkshire contenders – defending champion Glass Slippers, Liberty Beach and Lady In France.

Simply Ned, a long-time stalwart of Northern jump racing, has been retired by trainer Nicky Richards after being unplaced on his comeback run at Kelso.

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James Mitchinson

Editor