Enable needs to overcome heavy ground to win third Arc

Enable’s greatness has shined on two continents over four seasons. In races between 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 miles on turf there has been no better horse, day in and day out, anywhere in the world since Enable came to the fore during her 3-year-old season of 2017. She already has joined the rarefied club of two-time winners of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but if she is to become the first three-time Arc winner, Enable will have to slog through a bog Sunday at Longchamp.

Rain, persistent and sometimes heavy, has been the story of this Arc week. It took antepost favorite Love out of consideration when final entries were turned in Thursday, and it could very well take Enable out of her game. In her first try for her third Arc a year ago, a very soft Longchamp course might have proved her undoing, as Enable stormed to the lead inside the final quarter-mile of this 1 1/2-mile test – considered by many to be the world’s most important race – only to be run down by Waldgeist. Enable tolerated the wet turf, which shortened the duration of her mighty finishing kick, but Waldgeist loved it, and if another rival proves especially suited to the expected testing going Sunday, Enable could be in trouble.

Enable is well drawn in post 5 under regular rider Frankie Dettori as she makes the fourth start of her 6-year-old season and, quite possibly, the last one of a transcendent career. Enable lost her first start at age 3 before going on a 12-race winning streak that encompassed two Arcs, a Breeders’ Cup Turf, and seven other Group 1 races. Now that, folks, is a résumé. Still well above fighting weight in her 2020 debut, she was defeated in the Eclipse Stakes by mighty Ghaiyyath before easily winning her next two starts. All was set up for an epic showdown with Love in Paris, but that has now been doused.

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Ground as deep and testing as Longchamp’s could prove Sunday tends to elevate the less brilliant while bringing stars down closer to the wet earth. And while Enable might struggle to show her best Sunday, her John Gosden-trained stablemate Stradivarius could be encountering conditions that give him his best chance to win a top race at a distance as short as 1 1/2 miles. Stradivarius cut back to this trip last month in the Prix Foy, finishing second to Anthony Van Dyck, but that race was run at a crawling pace that hurt his chances, and on good, springy turf. Europe’s best staying horse for three seasons, Stradivarius demonstrated his capability over rugged going when he won the 2 1/2-mile Ascot Gold Cup in June by 10 lengths. He has a poor draw in post 14 and an aging jockey in Olivier Peslier, but don’t be surprised if Stradivarius makes his presence felt.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien took Love out of the Arc earlier in the week, then was forced to withdraw all of his other four runners -- Mogul, Japan, Sovereign, and Serpentine -- when he discovered they all tested positive for the prohibited drug Zilpaterol as a result of contaminated feed.

In Swoop has one of the better upset chances Sunday. The lightly raced Irish-bred son of the German sire Adlerflug won the German Derby over a soft course and has other wet-ground form to validate that performance. He had a much tougher trip than did Mogul in the Grand Prix de Paris and gets six pounds from his older male rivals.

As a 3-year-old filly, Raabihah gets 10 pounds from the older horses and has a chance to factor at a price. She was somewhat disappointing in her Arc prep, finishing second in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, but Raabihah can find more Sunday in just her sixth career start.

Persian King is totally unproven at distances this far but won the French 2000 Guineas in 2019 over a laboring course and reportedly has come around nicely this fall for master French trainer Andre Fabre.

Live video and wagering on the Arc, scheduled post time 10:05 a.m. Eastern, is available at DRFBets.com. Whether Enable makes history or not, this is a must-watch Arc.