a view of sport throuGh times www.JourdeGalop.com – wednesday 10th october 2018 – paGe 1

A tale of naturally but above all

Enable & Sea of Class.

After a two year stay at Chantilly, the Qatar Prix de l’Arc The market leaders do themselves proud. This de Triomphe show returned to the capital that is year’s Arc field drew a field of 19 with three candidates ParisLong champ. This went hand in hand with an heading the betting, and namely Enable (): ambiance which proved to be a source of great delight in out to emulate her 2017 success. The two others were the that it rekindled, for many, certain childhood memories. supplemented three year-old filly Sea of Class (Sea the The ground was officially listed as good or 3.2 on the Stars) and the leading French contender penetrometer scale. However, taking into account the (). Well away from the six stall, Enable was able times of the various races on last Sunday’s card, leads to to take up a good position after sitting in fourth/fifth the conclusion that conditions were on the soft side; position – that is within striking distance of the two particularly so when one factors in that the course was leaders, Nelson () and (Galileo). The watered so as to ensure that it was in good condition. The pace was an honest one and the field was soon strung track stood up to racing on the day rather well in spite of out. For the record, the first 1.400m were covered in the fears which had surfaced after the Arc Trials meeting. 1’33’’40. lll A cursory examination of the statistics gave a few clues as the eventual result, as over a ten year period three- year-old or four-year-old fillies have come up trumps on By Bruno Barbereau, editorialist at Jour de six occasions. Furthermore, the draw particularly Galop and animator of Horse Racing Chrono favours those exiting from stalls one to ten. For horses https://twitter.com/HorseRacingChro drawn upwards of 15, however, the situation becomes altogether more complicated.

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lll A tale of Enable naturally but above all Sea of Class

True to her way of running, and having been drawn 15, However, we must recognise both the skill needed just to Sea of Class was held-up. However, on this occasion, it get Enable on the starting grid, in addition to a quality wasn’t in a field of eight to ten horses but rather one piece of race riding from Frankie Dettori. This year’s Arc involving nineteen runners and it’s clearly not the same also underscores the weakness of the current classic thing…As going to the last 600m (the time split at this generation. Sea of Class has proved to be very effective point read 1’52’’46), Enable was three lengths off the but, when one trawls deeper, we are in something of a lead whereas Sea of Class had eleven lengths to make up! backwater and particularly regarding the colts. Having waited as long as possible on Enable, Frankie Dettori moved his mount into overdrive passing the The Arc secTionAls 400m pole and the filly battled her way to victory after Final Time Final 600m Final 400m posting a final time of 2’29’’25. This time is fully in line Enable 2’29’’24 36’’30 24’’12 with expectations if one considers that the ground was Sea of Class 2’29’’26 34’’96 23’’54 soft. However, it is far removed from the record time of 2’29’’38 35’’88 23’’90 2’24’’49 recorded by on good ground. The Waldgeist 2’29’’52 35’’78 23’’76 champion Enable covered the final 400m and 600m in Capri 2’2’’72 37’’06 24’’72 24’’12 and 36’’30 respectively. Lily’s Candle salvages home pride. Of the six Grs1 races on offer for , five were annexed by British-trained horses. Only Lily’s Candle (Style Vendôme), trained by Fabrice Vermeulen at Calas, spared home blushes. In 2017, this score was 6-0 in favour of the foreign raiders, and similar scenarios unfolded in 2016 (5-1) and 2015 (4-2). One has to rewind back to 2014 to unearth a year when honours were split evenly between French horses and foreign raiders. It begs the question as to whether this is a problem of horse power or a specifically a man inflicted one? The Qatar and the Jean-Luc Lagardère are the two Grs1 which have ‘future’ written all over them, as they are restricted to the two-year-old Anodor division. Lily’s Candle Mission impossible. Sea of Class only went down by a won the fillies’ race in a field whose contenders hovered short head after covering the final 600m in a ‘fabulous’ around the 46 mark in the French Handicap. In a 34’’96 , and the last 400m in 23’’54. It must be normally run race, Lily’s Candle bided her time patiently emphasised that she was ridden more ‘economically’ at the back of the field before coming through to win in than Enable, which enabled her to harness her turn of 1’38’’98 at the main expense of Matematica (Rock of foot. At the same time, we must acknowledge that Gibraltar). The latter was also held-up. The winner Enable suffered an interrupted preparation as she only clocked the final 400m in 23’’40. As regards the juvenile had one prior prep race this season. James Doyle colts [Jean-Luc Lagardère], the Coolmore big guns were certainly got the rub of the green as his mount was able conspicuous by their absence. Consequently, the to thread her way through in the final 300m – at a Godolphin runner, Royal Marine (Raven’s Pass), moment when many horses were backtracking. In other coming off a win in maiden company, stepped-up to take cases, as was manifest with the fourth Waldgeist, they the honours in a time of 1’39’’10 – clocking the final were having to wait a little longer before the gaps came 400m in 23’’10. Anodor K (Anodin) wasn’t disgraced their way. but without landing a blow at the principals. It’s a Timeform has delivered its verdict and, in the wake of her worrying sign for the 2019 classic season, particularly as 2017 Arc win, Enable was rated 133+. This figure has he is a leading French hope in that sphere – in tandem dropped to 127 this year which, in layman’s terms, with Persian King K (Kingman) who is expected to equates to being three lengths less effective than last year. head to Newmarket on Saturday.