THE eyes of the racing world will be firmly fixed on Paris tomorrow afternoon as Enable’s quest for greatness on an unparalleled scale will see her bid to win a third Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, a feat which no horse has managed since the great race was first run 100 years ago.

That Enable has already won two editions of the race is testament to her standing as one of the outstanding racemares as she is one of only eight horses to have managed that milestone.

By way of context, if Enable does win she will become the second oldest winner of European racing’s most coveted prizes. In addition, she will become only the second horse to win back her Arc de Triomphe crown, the other being Motrico back in 1932. Interestingly, he is the oldest winner of the Arc at the age of seven and following his initial success in 1930 he spent a spell at stud before returning for his crowning moment two years later.

Brilliance

By contrast Enable’s career has been one of constant class, brilliance and consistency and only the most churlish of observers could hold last year’s defeat by Waldgeist against her.

Since then she made a perfectly acceptable comeback in the Eclipse Stakes where she finished second before landing the King George for a third time and she warmed up for her latest Arc assault by making short work of five totally overmatched rivals in the Group 3 September Stakes at Kempton last month.

Everything this year suggests that Enable is poised to launch a strong bid for Arc glory and there aren’t many in the field at all who could be put forward against her with any degree of optimism. Indeed the one major obstacle to Enable’s quest for racing immortality was removed on Thursday morning when Love was scratched from the race owing to the likely testing ground.

This leaves Enable taking on 14 rivals whose best efforts fall some way short of what the daughter of Nathaniel has achieved over the course of her career. Her stablemate Stradivarius is an outstanding stayer but his efforts over a mile and a half this year suggest that he should find or two of these too strong.

Suspect stayer

Persian King is an absolutely fascinating runner but he looks a highly suspect stayer even though André Fabre’s decision to let him run is absolutely intriguing.

Mogul’s recent Grand Prix de Paris triumph suggested he could yet be a coming force at this level but he has got to step forward again, while Sottsass has yet to recapture the heights of last season.

Various trends such as her age and winning back this race are against her, the Arc has a habit of throwing up a left field winner such as Solemia in 2012 and the ground won’t be ideal as it looked like testing going was her undoing last year. However, the stage looks set for Enable to succeed.

Danger from Serpentine

One horse that could be dangerous is Serpentine who makes just his second start since the Derby. On his first run since Epsom, he was only fourth to Mogul in Paris last month but it was interesting that day that he eschewed his normal tactics for a much more patient approach. If he were afforded the chance to dominate up front, which looks entirely possible, he might just make them all work hard for victory.

One was left with the impression after his last run that there could be much more to come from him and he can show that his Derby display was no flash in the pan.

High Definition’s compelling Derby trial

LAST weekend’s events served up a feast of top-class racing on the two-year-old front and from a domestic point of view the obvious highlight was High Definition’s remarkable effort to pull victory out of the fire in the Beresford Stakes.

Just as he did when winning his maiden in August, High Definition produced a tremendous finishing kick to become his trainer’s 10th straight winner of the Group 2 Beresford. He deservedly sits top of the betting for next year’s Derby and we are unlikely to see as compelling a Derby trial until next May.

Another striking effort came on the undercard at the Curragh where the O’Brien-trained Santa Barbara made quite a debut in the median auction maiden over a mile.

This Camelot half-sister to Iridessa was a good deal more impressive than her winning margin of two and a half lengths would suggest as this race was as good as ever once Santa Barbara appeared in a gap on the rail to make her bid for glory with two furlongs to run.

A median auction maiden is some way removed from the exalted heights of Group 1 company but this filly might just be top-class. Indeed her effort was perhaps the most impressive maiden display from a two-year-old filly since Pretty Gorgeous made her decidedly striking debut at Bellewstown in July.

Currently Pretty Gorgeous and her old foe Shale sit top of the betting for next year’s 1000 Guineas but in this filly Aidan O’Brien may well have one of the foremost contenders for the 2021 Guineas and Oaks. Whether we will see Santa Barbara again this season remains to be seen and next May is a long time way but quotes of 25/1 for the Guineas look tempting even at this early stage.