TOP OF THE WALD
16-1 shot destroys Enable’s Arc dream
ENABLE’S quest for an historic third victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe sank in the Paris mud when she had to settle for second behind Waldgeist.
Victory for the five-yearold, who was fourth to Enable last year and beaten by her on two other occasions, further enhanced winning trainer Andre Fabre’s domination in the Longchamp headliner.
It was an eighth success for the Chantilly maestro and a first for jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot. Sottsass, the French Derby winner, arrived late to take third place.
John Gosden, who has guided Enable throughout her remarkable career, put on a brave face: “She ran an absolutely brilliant race.
“Waldgeist came late and strong after they went a good pace. Frankie committed and went for it and with the ground testing her it’s hard to show that turn of foot.
“Waldgeist has outstayed her on the ground. Full credit to Andre.
“I’m happy with the race but she doesn’t have the same explosive turn of foot on soft, she quickened up well but was outstayed in very testing conditions.”
If support counted for anything, Enable would have won doing handsprings.
In the paddock she was cheered like a boxer stepping into the ring and in the grandstand her supporters waved banners and chanted her name as she went to post.
But after racegoers scented victory when she hit the front, there was a gasp from the mainly British crowd of 45,000 when she was mowed down in the dying strides.
Frankie Dettori again appeared to have mastered the Parisian track and add to his record six triumphs in the race on the mare that had brought him to tears in the Yorkshire Oaks in August.
But yesterday there were no tears of joy or despair as the pair were applauded in defeat when they returned to the unsaddling enclosure.
Like Gosden, Italian genius Dettori blamed the underfoot conditions.
“The ground was very sticky and I struggled in the first bit of the race,” he said. “I let her find her feet and she came good to me in the false straight.
“I waited for the 300 metres [marker], but didn’t
find as much as I thought. She just folded a bit and the winner was too good for me today, but my filly was already tired.
“I passed the 200 [metre pole] and I was a spent force then. I think the ground had a lot to do with it.”
Fabre, 73, nicknamed Napoleon but who said he would like to be addressed as Wellington, said: “I always hope for the very best when I run my horses in the Arc, which, of course, is a very special race for me.
“I knew the ground would be very testing but I look back to his days as a two-year-old when he won in the heavy, and that made me more confident that he would finish his race off well.
“I’m very proud that Waldgeist managed to beat such a fantastic mare.”
Nobody will argue with that remark about Enable, who is now expected to bow out of the game, although her memory will live on for ever.