Weakness of this year’s challenge at Longchamp could be a blip but as jump racing can attest, that can turn into a trend
There were always going to be some notable absentees from the field for the 103rd Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on Sunday. Goliath, Calandagan and Rebel’s Romance, three of the top four middle-distance turf horses in the world on ratings, are all geldings and therefore ineligible, while City Of Troy, the Derby winner and top-rated turf horse, is being aimed towards the Classic on dirt at the Breeders’ Cup in November.
But there is another noticeable gap in the list of 18 horses still in contention for Sunday’s showpiece event of the European season. David Menuisier’s Sunway, the runner-up in the Irish Derby in June but a 66-1 shot with the bookmakers, is currently the only horse in the race that is trained in a British yard. Ralph Beckett’s Group One-winning mare, Bluestocking, is likely to be added to the field at the supplementary stage on Wednesday, but she too is a double-figure price, albeit a good deal shorter than Sunway at about 12-1.
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