Persian King holds off Pinatubo in Prix du Moulin de Longchamp

Persian King got the jump on Pinatubo and won the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp on Sunday by 1 3/4 lengths over his fast-finishing foe.

The top two proved pounds the best as pace-setting Circus Maximus, winner of the 2019 Moulin, failed to match late stride, finishing six lengths back in third.

Pierre-Charles Boudot aboard Persian King kept his mount closest to Circus Maximus, slipping inside him just after the field turned into the homestretch, and while Ryan Moore on the pacesetter was hard at work, Boudot sat chilly as Persian King glided to the lead. Quickening nicely, Persian King won the race in upper stretch. James Doyle on Pinatubo tried to follow Irish 2000 Guineas winner Siskin into a final run, but Siskin went nowhere and by the time Pinatubo launched a furious rally, all was lost despite a dazzling final furlong from Pinatubo.

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Siskin, Victor Ludorum, and Romanised completed the order of finish in this one-turn mile run over good ground in 1:36.72. Three-year-old Pinatubo got a four-pound weight break from 4-year-old Persian King.

Andre Fabre trains Persian King for Ballymore Thoroughbreds and Godolphin, and the son of Kingman and Pretty Please, by Dylan Thomas, has, to relatively little fanfare, put together a strong season. Persian King failed to handle heavy ground finishing fourth of seven in the Prix Jacques Le Marois, but before that start won the Group 1 Prix d’Ispahan over nine furlongs and now seems likely to go onto the Group 1 Champion Stakes over 10 furlongs at Ascot in October.

Pinatubo and Circus Maximus are potential runners this fall at Keeneland in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Enable on course for Arc

On Saturday, the great Enable made what is almost certainly her final start in England, winning the Group 3 September Stakes over the all-weather track at Kempton by seven lengths.

The race was merely a prep for Enable’s attempt to become the first three-time winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and trainer John Gosden had used the September Stakes to get Enable to her 2018 Arc win. Waldgeist denied Enable a third Arc in 2019 and 3-year-old filly Love is the current favorite for the 1 1/2-mile fixture Oct. 4 at Longchamp.

Enable broke slowly under Frankie Dettori in the 1 1/2-mile September Stakes but soon took command, the outcome never in doubt. The 6-year-old daughter of Nathaniel out of Concentric, by Sadler’s Wells, won for the 15th time in 18 appearances and never has finished worse than third. The big test comes in a month, and Gosden thinks the mare is as ready as she can be.