Stranger things have happened on racecourses... but I can’t remember when

Can you imagine the great Australian mare Winx running in the first race at Melbourne’s Moonee Valley while a rival race meeting at nearby Flemington simultaneously featured an otherwise excellent card?

No, I don’t suppose you can. I know I find it hard to fathom that such a bizarre situation should occur.

Yet I witnessed something almost on a par in the UK on Saturday when Enable, the reigning Arc heroine, made her long-awaited comeback, following an absence of 11 months, in the G3 September Stakes, the opening race at Kempton Park.

Just 12 miles away, Ascot, arguably Britain’s premier course for Flat racing, was staging its popular September fixture. There were good-sized crowds at both tracks.

I said to myself: ‘Don’t question, don’t complain. Just accept it as one of the many idiosyncrasies of British racing.’

The sheer volume of racing in the UK guarantees room for virtually every form of the sport, whether it be on Turf, All-Weather (various surfaces), or over jumps.

Enable, by the way, went on to record a very solid win over Crystal Ocean, scoring by three and a half lengths. Before the race, the two horses were rated 128 and 129, respectively, putting them in the highest echelon of world racing.

This year’s G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe could well be another vintage running of Europe’s biggest all-aged contest, yet three horses prominent in discussions, Sea Of Class, Crystal Ocean and Poet’s Word, will all need to be supplemented.

France-Galop officials would welcome such a high class field to celebrate the race’s return to the revamped Longchamp.