Enable | Racing Post

Khalid Abdullah’s history-seeker Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) will break from stall nine in Sunday’s G1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe after the televised draw took place on Thursday morning. Having broken from two and six in her last two successes in the ParisLongchamp showpiece, the 10-times group 1 heroine has a wide berth to contend with this time, but that was also the case in the July 27 G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot and July 6 G1 Eclipse at Sandown. Certainly nothing that occurred on Thursday sought to undermine any confidence that the mare can achieve three straight wins in the prize.

Enable’s Ballydoyle challengers Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Japan (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) are either side of her in eight and 10 respectively, with Ryan Moore opting for the G1 Grand Prix de Paris and G1 Juddmonte International winner Japan. Donnacha O’Brien has the ride on the G1 Irish Champion S. scorer Magical, who is looking to turn the tables on the big favourite at the fifth attempt. Godolphin’s forward-going G1 Grosser Preis von Baden winner Ghaiyyath (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) received the widest draw in 12, which given the nature of his running style may not be the cursed post position it can be in most instances. William Buick is looking forward to the ride on Ghaiyyath, who took that contest by 14 lengths Sept. 1 and who has track form at ParisLongchamp having put up a similar bold show in the Apr. 7 G2 Prix d’Harcourt. “It’s hard to know what to make of that form, but he won very well and he’s a very exuberant horse who wears his heart on his sleeve,” he said. “What you see is what you get and he was very impressive here in the d’Harcourt.”

Perhaps the real story of the draw is the fact that the June 2 G1 Prix du Jockey Club hero Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) is on the rail in one, leaving Cristian Demuro with apparently little choice than to play a waiting game with all the other leading contenders breaking away from the representative of Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm. Since the Chantilly Classic was shortened to 10 1/2 furlongs, no winner has gone on to Arc glory and the last to complete the double when it was staged at a mile and a half was Dalakhani (Ire) in 2003. Trainer Jean-Claude Rouget has yet to win the great race, but is in positive mood. “He’s in very good form–he eats well, sleeps well and works well so all in fine.”

Sottsass warmed up for his biggest test with a win in the course-and-distance trial, the Sept. 15 G2 Prix Niel, but it was not without incident as he needed a gap on the fence which only just came in time. Rouget was giving out positive signals as he reflected on that effort. “It was very important to have an easy race there, as he had a long break and so the scenario was good for him,” he explained, before scotching fears of testing conditions. “He won the [Listed] Prix de Suresnes here on heavy ground, so I don’t think the ground is important to him. We hope to win and my feeling is he is a mile-and-a-half horse, but any race is hard to win and this is harder than the others. I’ve been training for forty years and it’s not a headache for me not to have won it–it’s not an obsession for me. I just want him to run very well. If he wins, that will be fantastic and if he’s beaten and runs a good race that will be good too.”

Rouget also saddles Claudio Marzocco’s Soft Light (Fr) (Authorized {Ire}), who was runner-up in the Aug. 25 G2 Grand Prix de Deauville last time having been fourth to Japan in the July 14 Grand Prix de Paris. “He ran very well in the Grand Prix de Deauville and had a horse in this race [Nagano Gold (GB) (Sixties Icon {GB})] behind him, so the owner wanted to try,” he explained. “If it is soft, it’s better for him. It will be hard to get any better than fourth or fifth, but in racing you never know.”

Sunday, ParisLongchamp, France, post time: 4.05 p.m.

QATAR PRIX DE L’ARC DE TRIOMPHE-G1, €5,000,000, 3yo/up, c/f, 12fT

SC PP HORSE SIRE JOCKEY TRAINER WT

1 5 French King (GB) French Fifteen (Fr) Peslier Pantall 131
2 3 Waldgeist (GB) Galileo (Ire) Boudot Fabre 131
3 12 Ghaiyyath (Ire) Dubawi (Ire) Buick C Appleby 131
4 7 Kiseki (Jpn) Rulership (Jpn) Soumillon Sumii 131
5 4 Blast Onepiece (Jpn) Harbinger (GB) Kawada Otake 131
6 2 Fierement (Jpn) Deep Impact (Jpn) Lemaire Tezuka 131
7 11 Nagano Gold (GB) Sixties Icon (GB) Barzalona Luka 131
8 9 Enable (GB) Nathaniel (Ire) Dettori Gosden 128
9 8 Magical (Ire) Galileo (Ire) D O’Brien A O’Brien 128
10 10 Japan (GB) Galileo (Ire) Moore A O’Brien 125
11 6 Soft Light (Fr) Authorized (Ire) Take Rouget 125
12 1 Sottsass (Fr) Siyouni (Fr) C Demuro Rouget 125