In the end, Enable wasn’t able to become the first three-time winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but that is no reason not to celebrate the end of the mare’s brilliant racing career.
Enable officially was retired from racing Monday, eight days after she finished sixth while starting in her fourth Arc.
It was a one-two sweep for trainer Aidan O’Brien in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket as St. Mark’s Basilica improved considerably from his National Stakes performance last month in Ireland and beat Wembley by a half-length in the straight-course, seven-furlong contest for 2-year-olds.
Zavy’s Hope was beaten about a neck in a handicap at Grafton Racecourse in Australia on Sept. 21, a narrow setback that ended a two-race winning streak.
The loss came in a race at about 1 3/8 miles, the longest of Zavy’s Hope’s 10-race career. The experience could be a significant benefit when the 4-year-old Australian-bred mare starts in a handicap at the slightly shorter distance of about 1 1/4 miles at Murwillumbah Racecourse on Monday.
Tom Wood
R1: 8-1-2-4
R2: 1-7-3-4
R3: 6-2-1-4
R4: 7-6-10-4
R5: 4-5-3-1
R6: 3-6-4-8
R7: 4-2-5-1
R8: 8-4-6-11
R9: 7-1-3-4
R10: 8-4-5-2
BEST: R10 – 8 GOOD LUCK FRIEND (EW)
NEXT BEST: R8 – 8 ETERNAL HARVEST
VALUE: R9 – 7 E STAR (EW)
PLAY: R10 – QQP 8 < 2,4,5
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From Sept. 18 through Friday, Australian trainer Danny O’Brien won with 10 of 50 starters. From that group, O’Brien had another eight runners finish second, including Plein Ciel in the Group 3 JRA Stakes at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne on Sept. 25.
The high-profile stable starts Plein Ciel in Sunday’s Cranbourne Cup at about 1 1/4 miles, conditions that should be a good fit for the German-bred gelding, who is recognized as an 8-year-old Southern Hemisphere.
Pinatubo, the European champion 2-year-old male of 2019, has been retired and will be sent to stud in England in 2021, according to a statement released Friday by Godolphin Racing.
Pinatubo, who was trained by Charlie Appleby, won 7 of 10 starts and was unbeaten in six races in 2019, including a nine-length win in the Group 1 National Stakes at seven furlongs at the Curragh in Ireland last September, and a two-length win in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at the same distance at Newmarket Racecourse in England last October.
Thunder Moon, eye-catching winner of the Group 1 National Stakes at The Curragh, and Chindit, unbeaten from three starts, the most recent a sharp score in the Group 2 Champagne at Doncaster, head an unusually deep renewal of the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket.
A rail draw in a big field is about the only drawback for Entente in Friday’s $142,800 Port Macquarie Cup at Port Macquarie Racecourse in Australia.
Entente, trained by the top training partnership of Adrian Bott and Gai Waterhouse, has a friendly weight assignment of 121 pounds, won his last start in a handicap at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse on Sept. 26, and won the Group 3 Carbine Stakes at a mile at Royal Randwick Racecourse in April.
