Enable, Magical may get their rematch in Coronation Cup

Won the last two years by Highland Reel and Cracksman, Epsom’s Coronation Cup (G1) may have an even bigger headliner in 2019.

Enable officially appeared Wednesday among entries for the May 31 race in England, the first major 1 1/2-mile turf event for older horses in the British Champions Series.

In all, 26 were entered, with Enable, a winner of 10 of 11 starts — seven of those in Grade/Group 1 company — the likely favorite if she’s declared.

The Coronation Cup is the planned starting point toward a campaign that culminates with a try at a historic third straight Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe victory. Of course, Enable capped her 4-year-old season with a win in the Arc before wheeling back at Churchill Downs, becoming the first horse to win that race and a Breeders’ Cup event in the same season.

Last month, trainer John Gosden reported that Enable was "in great order" for her 5-year-old campaign. "She is even bigger and stronger again, so it’s fingers crossed with her."

Enable’s main competition could come from the barn of trainer Aidan O’Brien, the Coronation Cup’s winningest trainer with eight previous victories. The filly, Magical, who Enable beat by 3/4 of a length in a thrilling edition of the Breeders’ Cup Turf, is among his seven entries.

O’Brien’s son, Joseph, entered the 2018 Epsom Derby winner Latrobe; Andre Fabre could bring Waldgeist back from the Breeders’ Cup; and Mark Johntson trains Dee Ex Bee, second in last year’s Derby.

Among other potential entries is Salouen, the runner-up to eventual Longines World’s Best Racehorse Cracksman in last year’s Coronation Cup.