“I’ve literally turned my phone on record and I’m tearing down those steps trying not to break my neck.”
One of the most iconic fan reaction videos in modern racing history came not from a studio, a gantry or a broadcast booth but from mobile phone surveying one man’s downfall as the horse he backed fell short at the finish line.
That man was none other than Paddock Podcast guest, Stephen M Power AKA @racingblogger.
The viral Enable video, which was filmed on Arc day in 2019, has been viewed millions of times since it first appeared online.
In it, Power can be seen roaring home the great mare, only to watch in disbelief as she is caught close home, his celebration collapsing into stunned silence.
Speaking on this week’s episode of The Paddock, Power revealed the chaotic backstory behind the moment.
“If you’ve been to the l’Arc de Triomphe, you’ll know there’s quite a lot of people on Arc day. There’s a lot of security,” he explained. “Once you leave the parade ring, it’s quite hard to get back down to the grandstand if you leave it late because of all the crowds.”
Power had been in the parade ring when an unexpected conversation delayed him at the worst possible moment.
“I was in the parade ring, and a gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and he said: ‘Hello Mr Stephen.’ And I said, ‘Hello mate, how are you’. He said: ‘I am the nephew of Prince Khalid Abdullah.’”
As a self-confessed Enable fanboy, Power couldn’t hide his confidence when he was asked about her.
“He said to me, ‘Do you think she’s going to win today?’ I went, ‘Absolutely. She’s a certainty, it’s going to be magic.’”
Stephen added: “He keeps nattering away and talking and talking. And I’m looking up at the TV and they’re almost about to go into the starting stalls. I just go, ‘Mate, I’m going to have to leg it and see this race. I can’t watch it here in the parade ring.’”
What followed was a frantic dash that directly led to one of racing’s most shared clips.
“So when you see that video of me, I’ve literally turned my phone on record and I’m tearing down those steps, trying not to break my neck, about a million miles an hour.”
By the time Power reached “ground level”, visibility was far from ideal.
“When you’re at ground level on a racecourse, the screens are pretty small. You can’t actually see that much. I could feel Enable was up front. I saw her about a length up. ‘Come on Enable, come on Enable.’”
“I’d had a massive ante-post bet. I mean the biggest bet of my life at 5/1.”
But then it all fell apart.
“It was just deflation,” Stephen said. “The racecourse went silent.”
Enable was caught in the final strides by Waldgeist, denying her a historic third Arc.
This episode of The Paddock also explored his rise as a content creator, his time working in Australia, the contrast between racing cultures, and why fans connect so strongly with unfiltered emotion.
As Power put it simply: “People love the reactions.”
The Paddock is hosted by Oli Bell, with regular contributions from Rishi Persad and Nick Luck, and features weekly discussion, tips and guests from across the racing world.
Catch The Paddock on YouTube, or listen via podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
