Enable to Remain in Training, Eyes Third Arc

[Wandering Eyes]

The connections of Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) have announced the two-time G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroine will remain in training in 2019 with a defense of her Arc title her main goal. The Juddmonte homebred would become the first three-time winner of the ParisLongchamp showpiece. Successful in the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf at Churchill Downs after her second Arc title was safely in the bag, the 4-year-old raced only three times in 2018, after sustaining a training setback in early May. The bay returned to the races with a facile score over Kempton’s all-weather in the G3 September S. prior to her Arc heroics.

“I think Prince Khalid wanted time to reflect on the Arc and Breeders’ Cup and time to enjoy it before he started to think about the following year,” said Prince Khalid Abdullah’s racing manager Lord Teddy Grimthorpe. “Obviously it was important that she was in good shape when she came back. She checked out really well, so from that point of view it gave us the encouragement to go on.”

As it stands, Enable is one of eight dual winners of the Arc in its illustrious 98-year history, and Grimthorpe is under no illusions about what a third triumph would represent for the John Gosden-trained filly.

He added, “A third Arc would certainly be a challenge to say the very least, but that’s what racing is all about–taking these challenges. I think if we’d had a full year this year, it would be hard to say what might have happened, but she only had one race as a 2-year-old, a full season at three and then just three runs this year, so there are not too many miles on the clock. She still enjoys her racing, so she will be given her chance to make a bit of history.”

Enable’s campaign will be geared around another trip to France next October–but Grimthorpe underlined the team are not mapping out her route back to Paris just yet.

He said, “Obviously the main mile-and-a-quarter and mile-and-a-half races would be what we are looking at, but the Arc remains her primary target.”

Regular rider Frankie Dettori told the Daily Mirror, “It’s made my day. She showed what an incredible filly she is this year–the horse of a lifetime. It’s easy for horses to show their best when everything is going for them, but she had to miss most of the season with injury and to come back and do what she did was very special.”

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