SO it looks like the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is Enable’s to lose. John Gosden’s filly is the outstanding three-year-old middle-distance filly of the season so far, the outstanding three-year-old middle-distance horse of the season so far, the outstanding middle-distance horse of any age of the season.

So far.

It is difficult to pick holes. Her Oaks win and her Irish Oaks win and her Yorkshire Oaks win were all seriously impressive and she beat Ulysses by four and a half lengths in the King George, with the other older colts and horses strewn out behind her.

Potential holes? When she beat Ulysses and Idaho and Highland Reel in the King George, the ground was soft. They could get closer if the ground comes up goodish at Chantilly on October 1st.

Also, Khalid Abdullah’s filly has had a long season. When she runs in the Arc, she will be racing for the seventh time this term. She made her seasonal debut in a conditions race at Newbury in April when, interestingly, she was sent off as third favourite behind her stable companion Shutter Speed and the Brian Meehan-trained Raheen House. That race was over five months before the Arc.

When Sea The Stars ran in the Arc in 2009, he was racing for the sixth time that season, and we worried beforehand about the long season while marvelling afterwards at the skill of John Oxx.

John Gosden is, like John Oxx, a masterful trainer, and Enable will have a nice break now before being readied for the Arc, but it is still a factor in the back of your mind.

We know that fillies in general and three-year-old fillies in particular have a really good recent record in the Arc. Six of the last nine Arc winners were fillies and three of them were three-year-old fillies. But guess how many of those three three-year-old fillies were trained in Britain or Ireland? None.

Arc Record

And guess how many of the three older fillies were trained in Britain or Ireland? One. Found last year, who had been trained by Aidan O’Brien for the Arc from a long way out, like the five French and German-trained distaff winners who went before her.

The Arc has only gradually come into focus for Enable as she has progressed through the season.

The last British or Irish-trained filly to win the Arc before Found? Now you’re going back.