Trainer John Gosden expressed satisfaction with Enable but significant concern over the condition of the Churchill Downs turf course Friday morning.
Enable, the two-time Arc de Triomphe winner, had her last training session over a wet Churchill turf course, galloping a little more than a mile under Frankie Dettori shortly after 9:30 Friday morning. Enable is the strong favorite for Saturday’s $4 million Turf.
Walking back to the barn, Gosden said he had “great worry” about the turf especially since Enable will be running in the last of seven Breeders’ Cup races to be run on grass over two days.
“The later the race you’re in the more ripped up it’ll be,” Gosden said. “I feel for sorry for the groundsman. They wouldn’t be running on that normally, would they? Everything would be off the turf for a week.”
Gosden said Enable seems “fine. I’m happy. I just worry what it’ll be like by 5 o’clock tomorrow to be quite honest.”
Gosden said the course is “loose, it’ll be very loose. That’s not exactly what we’re used to in Europe. It’s no one’s fault, just a lot of rain and a lot of racing.”
Gosden said he is happy with Roaring Lion, who does run in Saturday's $6 million Classic, his first start on dirt.
"He’s in great form, hes enjoying his whole trip here, he looks well, handling it well," Gosden said. "It’s a big ask because of the kickback, they're not used to that. If it was run on timetrials he'd do quite well."