With France blighted by persistent rain and more in the forecast, there will be no Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in Sunday’s €3,000,000 G1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as the withdrawal of the G1 1000 Guineas, G1 Epsom Oaks and G1 Yorkshire Oaks heroine left 14 to attempt to mount a challenge to Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}). As well as being graced with that news, Juddmonte’s superstar mare also drew a favourable berth in five as she looms ever closer to her historic bid for a third renewal of the ParisLongchamp feature. Her stablemate Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) fared far worse from the draw and Bjorn Nielsen’s champion stayer will exit from stall 14 with only the supplemented Serpentine (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) positioned wider. Ballydoyle’s streamlined force also includes the likely pace-setter Sovereign (Ire) in 10, Japan (GB) in 11 and Mogul (GB) in three, with Ryan Moore now switching to the latter of the remaining Galileos. Jean-Claude Rouget’s duo Sottsass (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) and Raabihah (Sea the Stars {Ire}) will break from four and two respectively, while Andre Fabre looks for a ninth renewal with the G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp hero Persian King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in seven as he tries the longest trip of his career.
Sottsass, who was third last year, is bidding to fulfil a long-held ambition of owner Peter Brant who said, “I can only say of any race in the world, I would most like to win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, mostly because it’s kind of the European championship in many ways. He’s won on all different kinds of grounds–soft and firm. I think he broke the track record for the French Derby and he won impressively beating Persian King, who’s proven himself to be a very good horse. It’s a very good field and I think he’s an excellent horse. I think Jean-Claude Rouget has really pointed the horse to this race and as he does many times, he picks a spot that he’s going to run to. He’s a very sound horse, I don’t think he’s been overtrained or undertrained and I think he goes to the race well. Last year the grass was a bit new and it wasn’t a really good course to run on. I think Enable suffered running on that course, but there were great horses in the race and it was a great race.”
Gestut Schlenderhan’s G1 Deutsches Derby hero In Swoop (Ire) (Adlerflug {Ger}), who has been the subject of a gamble after the ground turned testing, is drawn in one and bids to become the first winner from that rail draw since Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar) in 2008. Showing the same dramatic surge of acceleration to be second in the Sept. 13 G1 Grand Prix de Paris as he had when taking the July 12 Hamburg Classic, the lightly-raced homebred was reported in rude health by trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. “His whole family–as well as his sire–adored soft conditions, so hopefully he isn’t a complete outlier,” he told the Racing Post. “There was some cut in the ground at Lyon when he ran there in June and he ran well. He had his final gallop on Monday morning on a very soft track and it didn’t bother him, so I don’t expect it to be a problem. He needed the run last time and has come forward plenty since then. I’m very happy with the shape he’s in.” Jockey Ronan Thomas also told the Post, “The Grand Prix de Paris was a very interesting race, as it brought together the various form lines of all the European Derbys. He’s a big horse and wasn’t completely comfortable coming down the hill on fast ground, but once he found his stride he finished in quite remarkable fashion, especially in the final 200 metres. In his work so far, he hasn’t struggled with soft ground and he has remained very well-balanced, while his action is more fluid than on quick ground.”
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