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| - Enable bids to seal her place in racing history by becoming the first three-time winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp racecourse on Sunday. Trainer John Gosden has credited her elderly Saudi Arabian owner and breeder Prince Khalid Abdullah for the "sporting decision" to keep her in training at the age of six. Abdullah's colours -- green silks with white sleeves and a pink sash and cap -- have been synonymous with top-class success for almost three decades. AFP Sport picks out three of his best horses. Not many horses retire with a perfect record -- even Enable will have at least three defeats to her name. But the mighty Frankel achieved that feat, bowing out with 14 wins from 14 races, including winning the English 2000 Guineas in 2011 by six lengths, the biggest winning distance since 1947. His exploits had particular poignancy because of the difficulties trainer Henry Cecil faced on and off the track, including the death of his twin brother, a messy divorce and a cancer diagnosis in 2006. At one point he had fewer than 50 horses in training, having once had over 200. But Abdullah remained loyal and was rewarded as Frankel, with Tom Queally in the saddle, gave the trainer a rousing finale to his career. Though Cecil was visibly weakened by his battle with cancer, he only missed one of Frankel's 14 races. There was barely a dry eye at Ascot after his 14th and last victory in 2012 as the crowd chanted "Our 'Enry" and Frankel performed a lap of honour around the parade ring. "He (Frankel) has given me so much strength," said Cecil, who died the following year. Guy Harwood did not have the popular appeal of Cecil but he was as adept at training a racehorse. Dancing Brave, who cost $200,000 as a yearling, was the finest example of that. He could have completed the 2000 Guineas/Epsom Derby double in 1986 but jockey Greville Starkey was criticised for his race tactics in the Derby. The late Pat Eddery replaced Starkey and he guided the horse to victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. It was a performance befitting a champion in one of the greatest fields in the race's history. Eddery had to switch him to the outside as he faced a wall of nine horses in front with only a couple of furlongs to race. However, any ground he lost there he made up for with an astonishing burst of speed. Harwood, who retired in 1996, said Dancing Brave was the best horse he had trained. "He was the best," agreed Eddery. "He had a lovely quality about him, really laid-back." Midday was a redoubtable filly who gave Cecil some much-needed Group One success before the Frankel years. She won a place in her trainer's heart by winning the Breeder's Cup Filly and Mare Turf at the back end of the 2009 season at Santa Anita. "To win here certainly lived up to expectations in the excitement and thrill," said Cecil. Midday also won a record three Nassau Stakes at Glorious Goodwood. "She was all heart," was Cecil's assessment. pi/jw/gj
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