Enable back at long last

The best horse racing anywhere in the world this weekend can be found in an unlikely spot.

Enable, the awesome winner of the 2017 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, makes her first start of 2018 over the all-weather track at Kempton Park in England on Saturday.

Just as surprising is that she is no sure winner. Also entered in the Group 3 September Stakes over just less than 1 1/2 miles is Crystal Ocean, who had scored three straight impressive wins in 2018 before finishing second by a neck to her Michael Stoutetrained stablemate Poet’s Word in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

John Gosden trains Enable for her breeder, Khalid Abdullah, and to say the filly’s 4-year-old debut has been long awaited is to say far too little. Enable, who won four Group 1’s last year even before capturing the Arc by 2 1/2 lengths over Cloth of Stars, was training this winter for a spring comeback when she sustained a leg injury that has cost her most of her 4-year-old campaign.

The goal all along was a second win in the Arc, however, and there remains time for that, provided Enable gets back to business in the right way on Saturday. Frankie Dettori has the mount in a race set for 9:05 a.m. Eastern and well worth watching.

Crystal Ocean, who gives the odds-on favorite one pound, will be ridden by David Probert with King George pilot William Buick booked to ride Saturday at Haydock Park. Crystal Ocean, also a 4-year-old, has really come on strong this year after a fine 2017 campaign and, with a major recency edge, just might prove the equal of her famous Kempton Park rival.

Harry Angel heads Sprint Cup

Harry Angel is just over even-money in early betting to capture the Group 1 Haydock Park Sprint Cup on Saturday, a race that would be the highlight of the English racing weekend if not for Enable’s reappearance.

Harry Angel impressively won the 2017 edition of this six-furlong race as a 3-year-old while racing over heavy ground and with a two-pound weight break from his elders. The going will have less give Saturday, and Harry Angel is set to start for the first time since June 23, when he ran into trouble at the start of the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.