The final piece of the 2015 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe jigsaw is set to be put in place when the Derby winner Golden Horn gets supplemented into the €5 million Longchamp spectacular tomorrow although the final make-up of the Irish challenge is not yet certain.
Aidan O’Brien has the fillies Found and Tapestry among the 20 horses currently featuring in Europe’s most prestigious all-aged prize after yesterday’s acceptance stage while Free Eagle and the surprise 100-1 outsider Sea Moon also remain possible starters this Sunday.
Sea Moon's trainer John Oxx has twice won the Arc with Sinndar (2000) and Sea The Stars (2009) but his latest Arc entry, who did run eighth to Solemia in the 2012 renewal, looks to have plenty on his plate after a disappointing seventh to Order Of St George in the Irish Leger.
Dry weather
Tapestry was out of the money in last year’s Arc, and has an alternative in the Prix de l’Opera, but both Free Eagle and Found are 16-1 shots to deny Treve an unprecedented Arc hat-trick.
Continuing dry weather is likely to see Golden Horn added to the Arc field tomorrow at a cost of €120,000, potentially giving Frankie Dettori a chance to secure a record-equalling fourth Arc success, 20 years after the first, Lammtara in 1995.
However a win for Treve, still an evens favourite for Sunday, will put her jockey Thierry Jarnet out on his own in the Arc record-books with five victories.
Golden Horn’s stable companion, Jack Hobbs, as well as the French Derby hero New Bay, are among the possible opposition but Jarnet, now 48, remains hopeful.
“The most important thing for me is that everything goes well, although we would obviously like to fulfil our dream and to win it.”
The weather outlook is also increasing hopes that Ireland's reigning Horse of the Year, Sole Power, could make it fifth time lucky in Sunday's Prix de l'Abbaye with jockey Chris Hayes reporting: "I would love to get the leg up on him on fast ground."
Sunday's domestic action will be Tipperary's mixed card where the Grade Two Istabraq Hurdle has attracted an entry of ten horses at the five-day stage. They include July's course winner Diakali, a beaten Galway Hurdle favourite on his last start, and also Thomas Edison who fell at the last in that Ballybrit highlight. The Tony Martin-trained star is one of the 12-1 co-favourites for the English Cesarewitch at Newmarket a week later.
Ground conditions on the jumps course at Tipperary are “good” and a little softer on the flat course over which the Group Three Coolmore Concorde Stakes will be run. A large entry of 25 horses is still in the mix to appear, including the former Prix de la Foret hero, Gordon Lord Byron.
Rule The World, runner-up in the Irish Grand National and third to his stable companion Rogue Angel in the Kerry National a couple of weeks ago, is one of a dozen remaining in the Grade Three Like A Butterfly Novice Chase at Tipperary.
However Rule The World is also among 10 entries for Saturday's PWC Champion Chase at Gowran, a race dominated by the now-retired Sizing Europe, whose Galway Plate-winning former stable companion Shanahan's Turn may attempt to take over the mantle for trainer Henry De Bromhead.
