FRANKIE’S HIGH FIVE
‘Perfect’ Enable gives Dettori record fifth Arc
ENABLE rendered Frankie Dettori “speechless” with a “too perfect” Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victory that saw the Italian gallop to racing immortality.
The John Gosden-trained filly’s two-and-a-half-length margin from Cloth Of Stars gave Dettori a record fifth success in Europe’s middle-distance championship, taking him ahead of weighing-room greats such as Pat Eddery and Yves Saint-Martin.
Enable went off a hot favourite to beat 17 rivals at Chantilly, and those who backed the Epsom, Curragh and Yorkshire Oaks heroine – also a taking winner of the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July – scarcely took an anxious breath. “I’m speechless,” gushed Dettori, 46. “It was too easy and too perfect. “Usually in an Arc something happens, but it was so smooth and effortless. “She just flew, as she usually does – she’s got that burst of three or four lengths, and then she sustains it. I had to pinch myself. I was thinking, ‘Is this really real? Am I dreaming?’” Saluting his historic feat, he added: “It’s a great achievement – the first one to get to five – and every one has been special.”
Gosden (left) will now discuss the prospect of a four-year-old campaign with Enable’s owner, Prince Khalid Abdullah, and the tantalising prospect of defending her title at Longchamp next year.
The trainer, who saddled Golden Horn to humble Europe’s finest in Paris two years ago, said: “She’s beyond special. Let’s hope they keep her in training.”
Asked to pay tribute to Dettori, Gosden went on: “It is a great achievement, over a long time and for different operators.
“But he’s a special chap – pretty good for an old jockey!”