Prix de l’Arc de

Triomphe (GROUP 1)

THE 2018 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp, Europe’s richest race, was a showcase for feminine thoroughbred talent, much like so many of the other big races of a season dominated by the likes of Alpha Centauri, Pretty Pollyanna and Laurens.

This time the leading ladies were Enable, reigning champion but lacking race fitness following a knee injury, and Sea Of Class, clearly the pick of the classic crop after her smooth Yorkshire Oaks victory but compromised by a wide draw at a venue which may have been given a new grandstand but remained in the same configuration as ever – with its seemingly endless final bend.

The eventual margin between the pair was a short-neck and, a tad surprisingly since the race only ever seemed to have one of these two ‘femmes fabuleuses’ as likely winners, there was then little more than five lengths back to ninth-placed Study Of Man. The closest Arc finish in many a long year.

With two St Leger winners among his five runners, Aidan O’Brien was understandably keen on ensuring there was a strong tempo and his designated pacemaker, Nelson, performed his role to perfection under Michael Hussey.

Capri was right behind him and able to take over at the two furlong marker but Enable was looming ominously in his wing mirrors and once Frankie Dettori gave her the office 100 yards later, she quickened clear and a second easy Arc success was seemingly in the bag.

TACTICS

Meanwhile James Doyle, aboard Sea Of Class, had taken the only sensible course of action given his mount’s prefered come-from-behind tactics, dropping her out at the back of the field.

Still with just one rival behind her rounding the home bend, Sea Of Class quickened up quite brilliantly and found a remarkably untroubled passage through the field bar having to switch around Tiberian and squeeze through a narrow gap on the inside of Study Of Man with a furlong and a half to run.

The complexion of the race altered dramatically in the last 100 yards. Enable was suddenly treading water in front and Sea Of Class was by now in full flight, eating up the ground.

The winning post came two strides too soon for the younger filly and Enable had her second Arc, trainer John Gosden his third (all in the space of four years) and Dettori his sixth.

Would Sea Of Class have won with a better draw? Possibly, but her running style means that she will always be something of a hostage to fortune and, should she have been drawn alongside Enable in stall seven, there is every chance that she would have found more trouble in the straight than from stall 15.

RELIEF

Gosden’s overwhelming post race emotion was one of relief, marvelling at Enable’s ability to land the biggest prize of all while only ’85%’ fit.

“It’s been a nightmare season for her and you’re simply not meant to win the Arc on the back of one run on the all-weather,” he said. “She also had a temperature after the September Stakes, meaning that she missed a piece of work, and the strongly-run race tested her fitness to the full – the last 100 metres seemed to take an eternity.”

Dettori said: “I’ve never been so nervous in the run-up to a race – I’ve barely slept in the last week. Last year I was almost sure that I was going to win but this time around I knew that she wouldn’t be at her best because of all her problems.

“Maybe it’s not fair to say that she wasn’t at her best, rather that she won by showing us another side of her talent.

“We saw the real Enable for just a furlong and a half, between the two pole and 100 yards out, when she put three lengths into the field. She had every right to get tired at the finish and she really showed her courage and class – she gave me everything.”

William Haggas, trainer of the runner-up, just about managed to keep a lid on his disappointment, saying: “Many people might say we were unlucky, but I don’t want to sound unsporting or ungrateful – John’s filly is marvellous and not many win two Arcs.”

Not many indeed – eight to be precise – and there is the enticing prospect that the first two may return in 12 months time when Enable would be going for a record-breaking third triumph. Sea Of Class will not race again this term but definitely stays in training, while Enable may go on to the Breeders’ Cup Turf and a decision about her racing on as a five-year-old is yet to be taken.

One of the heart-warming aspects of this year’s Arc was that the winning owner-breeder, Prince Khalid Abdullah, an irregular racecourse visitor these days but such an important figure to the global racing industry, was in attendance despite his advancing years.

He did not make it down from his suite at the top of the grandstand for the presentation, but could be seen standing on the balcony, beaming with pride.

Andre Fabre, who has won an seven Arcs, but none for over a decade, took third and fourth but not in the expected order, as Cloth Of Stars, slammed by Waldgeist in the Prix Foy three weeks earlier, proved three-quarters of a length the pick of the pair.

Another horse to make giant strides since the Foy was Capri, six an a half lengths in arears of Waldgeist that day but now just a length and a half behind in fifth to fare the best of the Ballydoyle crew.

Kew Gardens never got involved but plugged on for seventh, while Nelson kept going remarkably well to be eighth. Magical and Hunting Horn completed the Irish challenge in 10th and 16th.