Enable returns from long layoff to win September Stakes

Eleven months after her last race, Enable still is plenty able.

In her first start since winning the 2017 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Enable took a long stride toward winning a second straight Arc when she turned away the good colt Crystal Ocean and bounded to a 3 1/2-length victory in the Group 3 September Stakes on Saturday over the all-weather track at Kempton Park.

Still looking slightly heavier than she might at peak fitness, Enable took the lead from the start under Frankie Dettori in the September, contested around right-handed bends over just less than 1 1/2 miles. She raced with her ears pricked as Crystal Ocean stalked along in second, and when Crystal Ocean, most recently a close second in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, came with his challenge about a quarter-mile out, Enable was ready for it.

Dettori asked her for a lot, and Enable gave more than enough, pulling away in the final half-furlong in what appeared to be a very useful stepping-stone toward the Arc. She was timed in 2:30.57, for whatever that was worth, and paid $3 on the North American tote.

Enable, by Nathaniel and out of Concentric, by Sadler’s Wells, was bred and is owned by Khalid Abdullah. She swept through the European flat season last year as a 3-year-old, capping a spectacular campaign with an easy win in the Arc, and caused great anticipation when it was announced she would race again this year. John Gosden trained Enable over the winter for a spring debut, but the filly sustained a leg injury before her comeback run, and the setback delayed her return for several months.

Enable, a winner in six of her seven starts, is the ante-post favorite now to emulate the French filly Treve, who won the 2013 Arc as a 3-year-old and returned to repeat in 2014.