Possible tainted feed forces O'Brien to scratch four from Arc
- by Grant Boone
- in Sports
- — Oct 7, 2020
"It was too deep (the ground) it killed her action", said Dettori.
The race, which Enable bids to win for a record third time, has fallen apart; firstly when Aidan O'Brien's Love, the ante-post favourite, was taken out because of the heavy ground.
It was the first time in her 19 race career the 11-time Group One victor had finished outside the first three.
"Obviously we knew once the Ballydoyle horses came out the whole race changed", said Gosden by phone from his home at Newmarket.
"We were concerned about there being no pace".
The stewards' had a look at the interference in the straight, but after an anxious wait the result was made official, giving trainer Jean-Claude Rouget his first Arc.
When the pace quickened in the straight Dettori had Enable in the ideal position to strike, with Stradivarius on her outside, but she when she needed to quicken, the heavy ground meant she was unable to use her raking stride and she was beginning to send out distress signals when squeezed up.
"He is overjoyed as this has been a lifetime ambition to win the Arc", said Zerolo.
"She will be checked out to make sure she is in great shape and then we will discuss what might happen to her. Prince Khalid will decide what he want to do".
Dettori knows this is the last roll of the dice for him and his "favourite girl" and hopes it ends happily unlike previous year, when Waldgeist denied her victory.
Enable's jockey Frankie Dettori waved to the 1000 spectators - who were permitted under coronavirus protocols to attend - on his way back on Enable to the unsaddling enclosure.
"It wasn't what we'd hoped for, there's no doubt about that, but we owed her - not the other way around", he said.
"Forgive me I am a bit emotional at the moment".
Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to Enable's owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, said she there would be no immediate decision, but she is expected to be retired.
"She is happy, she retains her enthusiasm and her routine", said Grimthorpe.
"Like those old boxers, she has taken a while to get up to full fitness at training camp and it depends if they've lost any of their old speed".
"From those points of view it has been a huge bonus the whole thing".
"Three King George's, two Arcs, an Eclipse, an Epsom Oaks, an Irish Oaks oaks and a Yorkshire Oaks".
"That is an extraordinary CV for any racehorse".
Enable may be unaffected by the feed furore but the heavy rain throughout the week in Paris has turned the ground at Longchamp into a real challenge for her.
