Enable bids for historic Arc hat-trick; Appleby pins hopes on Ghaiyyath

History-seeker Enable will face 11 rivals in Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with the dual winner of European racing’s crown jewel allocated stall nine in Thursday’s draw.

The John Gosden-trained mare is odds-on favourite to secure an unprecedented third win in the five million euro showpiece at Longchamp with legendary Italian jockey Frankie Dettori in the saddle.

The one and only Arc winner to emerge from Enable’s starting stall over the past half century was another mare, Urban Sea, in 1993.

The dozen-strong field is the smallest since Dylan Thomas prevailed in 2007.

He was trained by Aidan O’Brien, who on Sunday sends over one of Enable’s main dangers in the gifted three-year-old, Japan.

Ryan Moore’s mount is drawn beside Enable in stall 10. Like his next door neighbour he boasts course and distance form having landed the Grand Prix de Paris in July.

And like Enable, who reeled off her 10th Group One in the Yorkshire Oaks in August, Japan was last seen out at York’s Ebor Festival, winning the Juddmonte International.

“He’s a lovely relaxed horse with loads of class” O’Brien has said of Japan. The master Irish trainer has another string to his Arc bow in the shape of Magical, ridden by his 21-year-old son Donnacha.

Dettori, in an interview with British bookmaker Ladbrokes, said if he had to single one horse out to worry about “it would be Japan”.

“He’s got low mileage, he’s an improving horse and is a good three-year-old. He is my biggest danger.”

The main home hope is French Derby winner Sottsass who sets out from stall one with last year’s fourth, Waldgeist, trained by Andre Fabre, from stall four. Sottsass, according to trainer Jean-Claude Rouget who has never tasted Arc success, “is an exceptional horse and it’s up to him to prove it on Sunday”.

Another with serious claims is Ghaiyyath, the wide margin winner of a Group One in Germany on his latest start.

The Charlie Appleby-trained Dubawi colt is the highest-rated four-year-old in the world following a devastating 14-length victory over the same distance in the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden at Baden-Baden, Germany, on Sept. 1.

Ghaiyyath started his season with two 10-furlong appearances at Longchamp in April, readily winning the G2 Prix d’Harcourt before coming home third in the G1 Prix Ganay three weeks later. He also scored over a mile and a quarter at the course in the G3 Prix du Prince d’Orange in September, 2018 – his only three-year-old appearance.

Ghaiyyath is partnered by William Buick and the Godolphin runner breaks widest of all in a field of 12. The trainer and jockey also team up with Glorious Journey in the G1 Prix de la Foret. The four-year-old son of Dubawi heads into the seven-furlong contest on the back of a career-best victory in the G2 Hungerford Stakes over the same distance at Newbury, UK, in August.

Three of Sunday’s field —  Fierement, (stall two), Blast Onepiece (stall four) and Kiseki (stall seven) — are trained in Japan.

The Arc has become Japanese racing’s holy grail, the country’s attempts to land the race littered with tales of ill-luck and near misses and improbable gambles.

No more so than Deep Impact, sent off at the prohibitive odds of 1-10 in 2006 after a deluge of small bets from his fanatical fans who turned up at Longchamp on the day to shout him home.

He was denied, just as El Condor Pasa had been in 1999, and Nakayama Festa in 2010, and Orfevre two years later. Kiseki is ridden by Christophe Soumillon, who is expecting better things than the laboured third his mount produced in his prep race won by Waldgeist last month.

“He can gallop and I think he should be able to handle the (soft) ground better than some,” the jockey told The Racing Post.