The “The Curse of Apollo” is broken after 136 years. And maybe the Gr.1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe can claim a victory in the Gr.1 Breeders’ Cup Turf. Stranger things have happened.
Enable is only the eighth two-time Arc winner and has won nine of her 10 career starts, suffering defeat only in her second career start.
Additionally, she heads to the $4 million BC Turf remarkably fresh. Due to a leg injury and a minor illness, the Arc was only Enable’s second start since 2017 and her initial victory in Europe’s premier race.
As trainer John Gosden told The Guardian, “It’s not often you run a horse in the Arc and the race puts them right.”
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager for Juddmonte owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, also believes the time off will help Enable in her bid to add the first Arc-BC Turf double to her sterling resume.
“We’re aware that no Arc winner has won the Breeders’ Cup Turf but we’re looking for positives. Most of them had had a hard, tough season by the time they got to the Breeders’ Cup,” Grimthorpe said in the Irish Times. “For a lot of Arc winners, it has come at the end of a long season where the Arc had been the aim so it’s slightly different for her. She certainly hasn’t had a long season but I wouldn’t say she didn’t have a tough race in the Arc. However, she has only had two races this year so from that point of view it gave us encouragement.”
Interestingly, while the winners of the Arc have been vulnerable a few weeks later in the BC Turf, horses coming out of losing trips in the Arc have been able to find their way to the winner’s circle at the World Championships.
That list of Euros pre-entered in the BC Turf also includes Qatar Racing’s Roaring Lion, who earned a free spot in the BC Turf through a victory in the QUIPCO G1 Irish Champion Stakes, a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race. The son of Kitten’s Joy enters his first start in America off three straight Grade 1 wins, having won the Juddmonte International and the Coral Eclipse prior to the Irish Champions for Gosden.
But in a sign of respect for Enable, the connections of Roaring Lion have declared the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic as the first preference for their 3-year-old colt. Gosden, who is 4-for-33 in the Breeders’ Cup and is winless since Pounced won the 2009 BC Juvenile Turf, listed the BC Turf as the second preference for Qatar Racing Limited’s Roaring Lion.
Also shipping across the Atlantic are Crystal Ocean, Hunting Horn and Magical, who has a second preference in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
The U.S. contingent is headed by Breeders’ Cup Challenge winners Channel Maker (Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park), Glorious Empire (Sword Dancer at Saratoga) and Robert Bruce(Arlington Million at Arlington Park). Quarteto de Cordas received a free spot in the BC Turf through a victory in the Grande Premio Brasil, a BC Challenge race in Brazil.
Click here to Watch Longines Turf Winner Race 2017
1st Talismanic (Jockey Mickael Barzalona, trainer Andre Fabre), 2nd Beach Patrol (Jockey Joel Rosario, trainer Chad C. Brown), 3rd Highland Reel (Jockey Ryan L. Moore,trainer Aidan P. O'brien), 4th Sadler's Joy (Jockey Julien R.leparoux,trainer Thomas Albertrani), 5th Seventh Heaven (Jockey Seamus Heffernan Trainer Aidan P. O'brien), 6th Bullards Alley (Jockey Javier Castellano Trainer Tim Glyshaw),7th Cliffs Of Moher (Jockey Wayne Lordan Trainer Aidan P. O'brien)
1. Talismanic (J: Mickael Barzalona,T: Andre Fabre), 2. Enable (J: Lanfranco Dettori,T: John H. M. Gosden), 3. Channel Maker (J: Jose L. Ortiz,T: William I. Mott), 4. Robert Bruce (J: Irad Ortiz, Jr.,T: Chad C. Brown), 5. Magical (J: Ryan L. Moore,T: Aidan P. O'Brien), 6. Arklow (J: Florent Geroux,T: Brad H. Cox), 7. Glorious Empire (J: Julien R. Leparoux,T: James L. Lawrence)
Distance : 1 1⁄2 miles,Surface: Turf, Track: Left-handed, Qualification: 3-year-olds and up, Weight: Weight-For-Age,4-year-olds & up: 126 lb (57.2 kg),Northern Hemisphere 3-year-olds: 122 lb (55.3 kg),Southern Hemisphere 3-year-olds: 117 lb (53.1 kg), Purse: US$4 million
Credit: press releases to Breeders Cup