Frankie Dettori claims fifth Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on board Enable

The three-year-old was the hot favourite to win at Chantilly.

FRANKIE DETTORI WON a record fifth Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on odds-on favourite Enable at Chantilly this afternoon.

The three-year-old John Gosden-trained filly Enable got off to a fast start and was perfectly placed when Dettori unleashed her in the home straight to easily beat Cloth of Stars (25-1) into second by two and a half lengths, with Michael Stout’s Ulysses (9-1) third.

“She was ‘magnifique’,” Dettori said. “A truly tremendous finish.”

It was also a fifth Arc win for Enable owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, into whose arms Dettori leapt with his trademark dismount back in the paddock. Trainer Gosden said that Dettori had done brilliantly to get Enable, who has only been racing for ten months, into a winning position.

“It was a very clever ride by Frankie,” said Gosden.

“Coming round the corner he manouvered her onto the outside and with that one manouver, and not get pinned to the rails, he was able to offer her a position from where she could win.”

The first England or Ireland-trained three-year-old filly to win the race then produced a spectacular burst of speed to go around five lengths clear before easing off at the line.

She was in the zone,” Gosden said. “She loves it.”

Asked if Enable would continue, the trainer said trying to win at the Arc’s traditional home of Longchamp would be a mouthwatering prospect.

“It’s Prince Khalid’s decision, but look, she hasn’t raced a lot in that she first raced last November and it would be exciting to try and win the Arc on two different tracks (back at Longchamp) next year,” he added.

Enable took impressive wins in the English and Irish Oaks earlier this year, ruled the roost again in the King George Stakes, taking on colts and her elders for the first time, before tuning up for Chantilly with another Oaks win at York.

For Detorri it was a fifth win, 18 years after the his Arc love affair began with Lammtarra. Sakhee and Marienbard followed in 2001 and 2002, with Golden Horn supplying his fourth win in 2015.