The fairytale ending to Enable’s storied career wasn’t to be Sunday when Waldgeist stormed by in the final strides to top the great mare in Longchamp’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1).
Enable looked to have a measure of her rivals, sitting just behind a leading trio off the final bend. She found the lead late by a couple of lengths, out-duelling top rivals Sottsass and Japan.
The battle was won, as they say, but the war wasn't over.
Waldgeist, the 5-year-old Andre Fabre trainee, took to the soft ground best in a shocking upset in Europe’s most prestigious race, running by down the centre of the track.
Enable had won 12 straight, with 10 of those races Group 1 events. If this is to be her final race — and by all indications, that’s likely — she finishes 13-for-15 in her career.
Waldgeist, a son of Galileo, is a familiar runner to American fans having finished fifth in last year's Breeders' Cup Turf at Churchill Downs. He entered Sunday's Arc off a victory over the course and at the distance in the Prix Foy (G2).
