10 August 2020
The suspense is over! The next outing for the great champion mare Enable, who is aiming towards a historic hat-trick in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (the Thoroughbred world championship held on October 4th in ParisLongchamp), has been decided.
The 6-year-old mare was scheduled to run at the York meeting in England in preparation for the Paris deadline. Her trainer John Gosden had suggested the Juddmonte International Stakes (Group 1), the race sponsored by her breeder and owner, Prince Khalid Abdullah, on 19 August as a possible target, or the Darley Yorkshire Oaks, for fillies only, the following day.
Enable won the latter in 2019 and 2017 making it a viable option…
However, the decision has been made and it is Kempton (England) that been chosen to welcome the champion mare on the 5th September on the fibresand track (not on turf).
Prince Abdullah has decided that Enable will prepare for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the September Stakes, a Group 3 over 2,400 meters that she won in 2018, before her triumphant win at ParisLongchamp.
In 2018, following some physical setbacks, Enable made her seasonal bow late in the year straight into this race. Less taxing than a run directly into a Group 1, she nonetheless had to beat Crystal Ocean that day.
In 2020 there have been no setbacks for Enable, who has already had two runs this season. Second on her return to the track on the 5th July in the Eclipse Stakes (Group 1) at Sandown over a distance that was a little short for her (2,000 meters), she was then the impressive winner of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Group 1) at Ascot (England). This event is known as the "English Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe".
Enable is the only horse in history to have won this race three times.