With rain forecast for Chantilly at the weekend, punters have been hedging their bets in Sunday’s Qatar Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. There has been significant support for Aidan O’Brien’s Irish St Leger winner Order Of St George as the classy stayer looks to improve on last year’s third in Europe’s richest horse race. He’s now only a best 10/1 but ENABLE remains a hot favourite to win her sixth race in a row and her fifth in Group 1 company.
John Gosden’s brilliant filly is a still available at 10/11 on Betfair and is the one to beat granted luck in-running.
Enable has already won almost £1.5million in prize money. She trounced older opposition in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July, including Juddmonte International winner Ulysses and Hardwicke Stakes winner Idaho. Genuine soft going might be a slight concern but it was good to soft at Ascot and she was always travelling comfortably.
Ballydoyle has seven of the 20 four-day entries, including exceptional filly Winter and St Leger winner Capri as well as Idaho, who will be trying to reverse Ascot running along with Ulysses. German challenger Dschingis Secret arrives in peak form and win the Prix Foy on Trials Day at Chantilly and he’s available at 12/1. Brametot won the French Derby at Chantilly in June but runs over 1m4f for the first time this Sunday and was below par last time at Deauville.
Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe History
The first Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was run on Sunday 3 October, 1920. The inaugural running was won by Comrade, a three-year-old colt owned by Evremond de Saint-Alary. The winner’s prize was 150,000 francs.
In 1935, the event secured state funding by the means of a lottery, which awarded prizes according to the race result and the drawing of lots. The system was first used in 1936, and it continued until 1938.
Government funding of the race resumed after WWII in 1949, with money obtained through the Loterie Nationale. Offering a jackpot of 50 million francs, this enabled a rapid increase of the prizes for both the “Arc” and its supporting races. By the 1970s, however, the assistance of the lottery had diminished, and the system was finally discontinued after the 1982 running. Since then the “Arc” has had several sponsors with the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) the latest.
The list of winners is like a who’s who of middle-distance champions but there has only been four home-based winners in the last 10 years with three trained in Ireland, two in the UK and one in Germany – Enable is bidding to become John Gosden’s second winner in the great race after Golden Horn’s triumph in 2015.
Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe Current Best Odds
Enable (10/11), Ulysses (7/1), Order Of St George (10/1), Dschingis Secret (12/1), Brametot, Winter and Capri (14/1), Zarak and Highland Reel (16/1), Satono Diamond (22/1), Cloth Of Stars (28/1), Cliffs Of Moher (33/1), Seventh Heaven (40/1), Idaho and Silverwave (50/1), Plumatic, One Foot In Heaven, Iquitos and Doha Dream (66/1), Satono Noblesse (200/1)
