France: Enzel looks to build on dazzling debut in Prix Torbillon

Enzel did his best Secretariat impression in his career debut last Nov. 19 at Saint-Cloud.

No, really. Enzel had very little speed starting off in a 1 1/4-mile maiden race and still was near the back of the pack three furlongs from the finish. A quarter-mile out he had drawn even with the leader – and at the wire he was 20 lengths best. A colt named Kongastet finished a most distant second and is not a hapless racehorse, and perhaps as much as the competition, heavy ground, over which Enzel glided, helped produce the one-sided victory.

What Enzel can do as a follow-up to the epic debut will be demonstrated Tuesday, when Enzel makes his second start and 3-year-old debut in the co-featured Prix Torbillon, the eighth of 10 races at Saint-Cloud. Enzel has the outside post in a 12-horse field and will carry the colors of the Aga Khan over 1 5/16 miles in this conditions race for 3-year-old colts and geldings. Vincent Cheminaud rode Enzel last fall, but Christophe Soumillon takes the call on the homebred Tuesday for trainer Mikel Delzangles.

Enzel is by Intello and out of Ensaya, who won only once from 11 starts and whose first three foals to race found modest success at best on the racecourse. The family, if nothing else, is laden with stamina, and Enzel, provided he has wintered adequately, should have no trouble coping with a course listed as very soft as of Monday.

Yet Enzel is no cinch to win again, as the Prix Torbillon came up strong for the class level, and three other horses – Alfareeq, Dawn Intello, and Port Guillaume – have shown enough to threaten Enzel, who was the 7-4 antepost favorite with British bookmakers Monday.

Alfareeq might have turned in the sharpest single performance among that trio yet might be the worst-suited of them to Tuesday’s conditions. A Hamdan al Maktoum homebred trained by Freddie Head, Alfareeq’s two starts came over Polytrack, and after a decent debut going 7 1/2 furlongs, he won impressively over 1 3/16 miles. Alfareeq settled and finished in his maiden win and showed a powerful turn of foot, but that’s the kind of asset that very soft going can blunt.

Dawn Intello debuted over the Deauville Polytrack last Nov. 28 and proved comfortably best in a 1 3/16-mile maiden race, winning with a long, sustained bid. Jockey Pierre Charles-Boudot, who gives way Tuesday to Maxim Guyon, stayed busy on Dawn Intello the final quarter-mile, but the Intello colt appeared to win with something in reserve.

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Port Guillaume’s lone start came Jan. 23 over the all-weather, left-handed track at Cagnes-Sur-Mer, but he, too, notched an eye-catching win, showing good tracking pace, a decent turn of foot, and a strong finish to post a going-away three-length victory at 1 1/4 miles.

Also among the entries – and a mere 5-1 chance with the bookmakers Monday – is Mare Australis, who makes his career debut and is trained by Andre Fabre.

Race 9 is the Prix Durban, a 3-year-old fillies companion race to the Prix Torbillon. Vienne, who was a fourth-start maiden winner over very soft ground in her 2-year-old finale, is favored over seven-race maiden Anobar.

The card also features several races restricted to unstarted 3-year-olds, many of whom sport high-end pedigrees for major French operations.

Racing begins early, with first post set for 5:10 a.m. Eastern. The Prix Torbillon goes at a more manageable 8:35 a.m. Eastern.

Later in the day, the only other card in Europe, an eight-race program, will be held over the Polytrack at Marseille Pont-de-Vivaux. First post for this program is 10:10 a.m. Eastern.

Live-streaming video and wagering is available on both Tuesday programs – as well as all upcoming European racing – at DRFBets.com.