25 June 2021
3 October at ParisLongchamp racecourse
The countdown is on…as the 100th edition of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will take place in exactly 100 days time! As on 3 October, ParisLongchamp racecourse will host the most prestigious race in the world. It is a "Group 1" race: the highest level in the world of horse racing.
This title is certainly not usurped: as, since 2015, the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities, in association with Longines, recognises the top race in the world each year; and the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe has topped the list four times in six years!
The first major step on the road to the Arc took place on Wednesday 12 May which marked the deadline that entries had to be made via France Galop. In total, 101 thoroughbreds were entered, from France, England, Ireland, Germany... but also from Japan!
Since 12 May, various races which are considered stepping stones to the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe have taken place, and this gives a clearer picture of the potential field that will line up for the 100th edition of the race.
A date for your diary: the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on 4 July!
Second in the 2020 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the stock of the French-trained In Swoop, trained at Chantilly (in the Oise region) by trainer Francis-Henri Graffard, continues to rise. Second on his return in April, he then won the Prix d'Hédouville, a Group 3 race over the same course and distance as the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, before following up in the Grand Prix de Chantilly: a Group 2 race also run over 2,400 metres (12f). He is expected to be seen out again in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (4 July) or the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot (24 July), and he will have his final prep for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the Group 2 Qatar Prix Foy, the traditional trial race for older horses which falls three weeks prior to the big event.
Mare Australis, trained at Chantilly by André Fabre, is also one of the leading French fancies. He won the first French Group 1 race of the current season, the Prix Ganay, on 2 May, and should be seen out again in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on 4 July.
Over to the younger generation
At this stage of the season, the 3-year-old division has yet to clash with older horses. The elite
3-year-olds have been tackling races known as "classics” (such as the Prix de Diane Longines), which are designed to produce stallion prospects which, in time, will prove capable of improving the thoroughbred breed.
The one that has made the biggest impression is a filly called Snowfall. Hailing from Ireland, she is trained by Aidan O'Brien. She won the Oaks by sixteen lengths! The Oaks is the 'British’ equivalent of Prix de Diane' - and it was another Aidan O'Brien filly, Joan of Arc, who won the... Prix de Diane Longines. Joan of Arc doesn’t currently hold an entry in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe but she could yet be supplemented - that is to say entered at the 11th hour - but this luxury comes at a price, as it costs €120,000 (!), should connections decide to add her to the field. Aidan O'Brien hasn’t ruled this out.
Still, in the 3-y-old domain, the Irish handler also has the race as an option for St Mark's Basilica, and he has completed a challenging classic double after variously landing the Emirates Poule d'Essai des Poulains (over 1,600 metres), and the Qatar Prix du Jockey-Club (2,100 metres) on French soil. So why not a tilt at the Arc over 2,400 metres, as France clearly suits the colt well? The son of the French stallion Siyouni is expected to tackle the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in July: a group race that the champion Enable won in 2019 before finishing second in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe that same year, having won the previous two editions of the Arc.
In the French 3-year-old division, we should mention the filly Philomène, who was a stunning second in the Prix de Diane Longines, and trained by André Fabre for Godolphin (the racing operation of Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai); without forgetting the colt Cheshire Academy, an unlucky fifth in the Qatar Prix du Jockey-Club, and who will be seeking to land his first Group 1 success in the Grand Prix de Paris on 14 July, a race not to be missed! Cheshire Academy is trained at Deauville by last year’s winning handler of the Grand Prix de Paris, Jean-Claude Rouget.
Adayar, who, like Philomène, defends the interests of Godolphin, created a surprise by winning the Epsom Derby. He has not been entered in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but his trainer, the Englishman Charlie Appleby, has mooted the possibility of a crack at the Paris-Longchamp feature should the colt win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes this summer. Adayar's immediate pursuers at Epsom, Mojo Star and Hurricane Lane, are expected to tackle this Saturday's Irish Derby at the Curragh, and a race that could also act a conduit to the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The favourite for the Irish classic is another Aidan O'Brien runner, High Definition.
The pointers provided by Royal Ascot
Last week, Ascot racecourse in England hosted one of the most important British meetings, Royal Ascot. That is to say five days of racing at the highest level! Still on the subject of Aidan O'Brien, his filly Love made a winning return in the Group 1 Prince of Wales's Stakes over 2,000 metres. It marked the fourth consecutive victory for the daughter of Galileo, who was considered as the top European 3-y-old of the 2020 season. Although she didn’t tackle take the 2020 edition of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe: as Love needs fast ground and this is rarely the case come the first Sunday in October at ParisLongchamp, where the tracks are often rendered heavy by the rain. For her to run, it will all be down to the weather!
Trained in Britain by Frenchman David Menuisier, Wonderful Tonight, a filly born in Normandy, also saw her Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe stock rise in the wake of her Hardwicke Stakes success last Saturday, having overcome an absence of several months. Her trainer has focused the filly’s 2021 season on the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, knowing that, unlike Love, Wonderful Tonight loves the rain and give in the ground!
Awaiting their return...
Last year's winner of the Prix de l'Opéra Longines, which is run on the same Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe card but is sole preserve of fillies and mares, was won by the Irish-trained Tarnawa. Owned by His Highness the Aga Khan, the mare has not yet made her comeback in 2021, but she is already ensconced among the leading contenders for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Her trainer, Irishman Dermot Weld, has made it known that intends to take his time with Tarnawa so as to ensure that his charge is in peak form come the autumn.
Mishriff, the winner of the 2020 Qatar Prix du Jockey-Club, has had a busy winter and, logically, the colt’s handlers, the father and son team of John and Thady Gosden, are biding their time before kick-starting their charge’s European campaign. Mishriff won the Saudi Cup, the world’s richest race at the end of February, before adding the Dubai Sheema Classic, in Dubai, to his CV. The standard bearer of Prince Faisal, a member of the Saudi royal family, is expected to be in the Parisian line-up on 3 October.
The Japanese dream
Of the six Japanese horses entered in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, only one, so far, has had his bid confirmed by connections. We are referring to Deep Bond: second in the spring version of the Tenno Sho, which is a Group 1 race run at Hanshin in early May over 3,200 metres (which is 800 metres longer than the Arc de Triomphe trip).
Chrono Genesis, Lei Papale and Mozu Bello, also entered in the ParisLongchamp race on October 3, are due to come under orders in the Group 1 Takazuka Kinen over 2,200 metres at Hanshin on Sunday. Chrono Genesis' connections had, in any case, already announced that the 5-year-old mare could be heading to France in the wake of her second in the Group 1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic on March 27.
The best performances by Japanese horses have been the second places recorded by El Condor Pasa and Orfevre; and the latter recorded consecutive seconds in 2012 and 2013.
Races to keep on the radar regarding the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
- • June 26: The Irish Derby at the Curragh (Ireland)
- • June 27: Takazuka Kinen at Hanshin (Japan)
- • July 3 : Eclipse Stakes at Sandown (Great-Britain)
- • July 4: Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud at Saint-Cloud
- • July 14: Grand Prix de Paris at ParisLongchamp
- • July 24 : King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot (Great Britain)
The ante-post betting market of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
- • Snowfall : 5/1
- • Love : 5/1
- • Tarnawa : 8/1
- • Mishriff : 10/1
- • Adayar : 10/1
- • Wonderful Tonight : 10/1
- • St Mark’s Basilica : 12/1
- • In Swoop : 16/1
- • Mare Australis : 20/1