As another Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe day draws to a close I’m reminded how much I do miss the famous Timeform Racehorses annuals which were another victim of the wretched Covid pandemic breakout. The respected racing ratings organisation ditched all their print products when the virus subsided with the world going back to normal and the annuals became a thing of the past.

My collection of them dates back to the mid-1970s and I even have a copy of a very rare item, the ‘Best Horses of 1945’ edition. That will be worth a nice price now but those who have the 1942 publication have a book worth at least £10k in their possession.

What I was reminded of in particular today was the essay on Cirrus Des Aigles’ essay in Racehorses of 2014.

‘The tree-dwelling three-toed sloth is generally regarded as being the world’s slowest mammal,” wrote Timeform back then, “its average speed around one sixth of a mile an hour.

“Racing could nominate its own contender: the collective membership of the European Pattern Committee moving imperceptibly towards removing the nonsensical ban on geldings in some of Europe’s Group 1 races … The idea that geldings should be excluded from the top races because those races exist for the purpose of selecting the best colts for breeding belongs to a bygone era.”

The geldings Goliath and Calandagan would easily have topped the Arc ratings this year if they had been allowed to run in the big race at Longchamp today and, as Timform stated this week, “the absence of both leaves Europe’s richest race [this year] very much the poorer.”

The fact that Goliath beat this year’s convincing Arc winner Bluestocking in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in great style underlines the case again for geldings being allowed to run in future. Apparently the matter is being discussed by the French racing authorities currently. Let’s hope they come to the right conclusion this time.

Good night and see you again a week on Saturday here for Champions Day from Ascot.

And they’re off … Matilda Picotte takes up the running with Ramatuelle also prominent … into the straight with Ramatuelle coming fast and quick and she clears away for a great and convincing win. it will be the Breeders’ Cup Mile for her next time out and can’t wait to see her in that.

Prix de la Foret (4.40pm) preview

Despite the best efforts of the course executives at York and Goodwood, among others, to boost the status of their top seven-furlong events, this race is still the only Group One at the trip in Europe, and thus an automatic target for every decent seven-furlong specialist around. Kelina and Kinross, separated by half a length at the end of last year’s renewal, are both in the field again, and this will in fact be Kinross’s fourth run in the race – he won in 2022 and finished fourth in 2021. Kelina, a 25-1 chance 12 months ago, has failed to add to last year’s success in four subsequent races and is a relative outsider again, but Kinross is the likely favourite and may have most to fear from Christopher Head’s Ramatuelle, who looked as if she might appreciate a drop back to seven furlongs when finishing third in both the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket in May.

SELECTION: RAMATUELLE

And they’re off … Almara leads in the early stages of the race … Sparkling Plenty towards the back as they turn for home but now trying to make ground … Friendly Soul fights hard up front and will beat her stablemate Running Lion.

Greg Wood

Prix de l’Opera (4.05pm) preview

A big run from Bluestocking, Aventure or both in the preceding Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe will be a positive for Sparkling Plenty, the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) winner here, as she was a creditable sixth in the Prix Vermeille last time having been given a bizarrely unambitious ride until halfway down the straight. She is vying for favouritism with Karl Burke’s Fallen Angel, the runner-up in the Matron Stakes last time out with Ylang Ylang just behind in fourth, while Ylang Ylang’s stable-companion at the Aidan O’Brien yard, Content, is another leading contender on her winning form in the Yorkshire Oaksalthough this drop back to 10 furlongs is not entirely certain to suit. The Group Two Blandford Stakes, won by Hanalia with American Sonja back in fifth, could be worth a second look too.

SELECTION: SPARKLING PLENTY

You can read Greg Wood’s quick report on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe from Paris here:

And they’re off … Los Angeles is out there early with the well-backed Bluestocking just behind … Haya Zark has gone wrong and been pulled up very quickly … they turn for home with Los Angeles leading … Bluestocking now leads … and comes home the winner of the Arc for British trainer Ralph Beckett after being supplemented into the race only earlier this week! She was backed into 5-1 from 11-1 this morning.

Greg Wood

Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (3.20pm) preview

The 103^rd Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is, as I may already have mentioned once or twice, a pin-sticker’s delight. I can’t see Haya Zark or Survie playing any kind of a role in the finish, but that leaves 14 to choose from and the ratings suggest that at their best, there is precious little between them. Zarakem, for instance, is a 50-1 shot with the bookies, but he was a close second behind Auguste Rodin in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot just two runs ago, and fellow outsiders like Sevenna’s Knight, Sunway, Continuous andFantastic Moon all have something in their back-catalogue that gives them a squeak. The key pieces of form among the market leaders include the Prix Niel (Sosie beat Delius and Look De Vega), the Irish Champion Stakes – watch Shin Emperor finishing fast into third after struggling for running room with Los Angeles just behind in fourth – and the Grosser Preis von Berlin, which has the recent Arc winners Torquator Tasso and Alpinista on its roll of honour and was won this year by Al Riffa. The Prix Vermeille, where Bluestocking beat Aventure, is also worth a look before coming to any firm decisions, and while I’m happy enough to row in with Al Riffa and Yutaka Take, there is almost no possible outcome that would entirely surprise.

SELECTION: AL RIFFA

This will be a fast and furious race over only five furlongs and the camera angles on the straight track at Longchamp are notoriously difficult to follow so bear with me – this will be a short description!

And they’re off … Bradsell is out quickly early as with Kerdos … Bradsell has a narrow lead as they head for the line … Makarova takes the lead close home and holds on to win. Tom Marquand has beaten his partner Hollie Doyle (Brasell) in this always frantic race. The trainer Ed Walker is very emotional as he relays to Sky Sports Racing that this is his runner’s last race and he has won a major European prize. “It’s great when the little man gets his day!” he says.

Greg Wood

Prix de l’Abbaye (2.05pm) preview

If there is a Group One race on the Arc weekend schedule that is all but certain to go to an overseas-trained runner, it is undoubtedly this five-furlong sprint, which has gone abroad 13 times in the last 15 years.

The locals, in fact, almost seem to have given up trying, and just three of the 16 runners are from French stables. It will take just under a minute to watch the key race as far as recent form goes, as the first six home in the Flying Five at the Curragh last month – Bradsell, Believing, Makarova, Kerdos, Washington Heights and Desperate Hero – are all in today’s field. Bradsell and Hollie Doyle were convincing winners there but this is a race where a high draw is generally fairly terminal for a runner’s chance and all five of the re-opposers are drawn lower. The main local trial is the Prix du Petit Couvert over track and trip three weeks ago, when the field included another half-dozen of today’s runners, and the one to take out of the race is probably Richard Hughes’s No Half Measures, who was beaten less than half a length in sixth despite being forced wide. She has a difficult draw again though in stall 12. I’ll probably have a few euros on Kerdos from an excellent pitch in stall three, although Desperate Hero, who posted an exceptional time when hosing up in a Hamilton handicap four runs ago, also makes some appeal from six.

SELECTION: KERDOS

And they’re off … Field Of Gold jumps out well but Misunderstood grabs the lead with Camille Pissarro at the back in the early stages … Rashabar is there … Camille Pissarro comes from the back to lead with Rashabar just second. and holds on at the line in a tight finish.

Greg Wood

Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere (1.30pm) preview

Like the preceding race, the juvenile colts’ Group One features an Aidan O’Brien runner on something of a retrieval mission, as Henri Matisse was unbeaten and odds-on for last month’s Group One National Stakes at the Curragh but finished only second behind Scorthy Champ having wandered alarmingly inside the final furlong. There is less obvious opposition from the home-trained contingent, however, as Field Of Gold, John Gosden’s Solario Stakes winner, and Brian Meehan’s Rashabar, the runner-up behind Whistlejacket in the Prix Morny in August, are next best on ratings, with Mario Baratti’s unbeaten Misunderstood, a four-and-a-half length winner of the Group Three Prix des Chenes last time, likely to offer the biggest threat from the locals.

SELECTION: FIELD OF GOLD

And they’re off … Simmering is out quickly with Exactly … hot favourite Zarigna is in midfield … Exactly leads as they turn for home … Zarigana finishes fast with Vertical Blue down the centre of the track and it’s a photo finish! Vertical Blue HAS got up close home and won at the amazing odds of 100-1!

Greg Wood

Prix Marcel Boussac (12.55pm) preview

A fascinating contest between three hugely-promising two-year-old fillies to open the Group One action on Arc day. Francis Graffard’s Zarigana, a grand-daughter of the brilliant, unbeaten Arc winner Zarkava, is the likely favourite, having won her first two startsby a combined seven lengths, but she faces stern opposition from Aidan O’Brien’s Bedtime Story, whose unbeaten record went west when she finished fifth and last in the Moyglare Stud Stakes last time. She was subsequently found to be lame, however, and had set off at odds-on in a race that was won by her stable companion, Lake Victoria, the easy winner of last week’s Group One Cheveley Park Stakes. Ollie Sangster’s Simmering, meanwhile, also deserves close consideration, having finished a length-and-a-quarter behind Lake Victoria in the same event.

SELECTION: ZARIGANA

Preamble

Greg Wood

Hello from Longchamp in the Bois de Boulogne, where the 16 runners in the 103^rd running of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe are due to set off at 4.20 local time, or 3.20 BST. Unlike 12 months ago, when many unprepared racegoers from Britain and Ireland had lobster-pink necks by lunchtime, it is a damp and chilly day here, although there is little sign of any significant rain at present.

The going is therefore likely to remain soft throughout the afternoon, which is arguably not ideal for the Japanese-trained challenger, Shin Emperor, but he remains prominent in the big-race betting at around 6-1 with British bookies.

This is an unusually open running of the Arc on paper, with four three-year-olds – Los Angeles, Sosie, Look De Vega and Shin Emperor – at the top of the lists – but no certainty as yet about which of them will set off as favourite. Look De Vega, though, has taken a brisk trot in the betting this morning, and the French Derby winner, who was shading 4-1 favouritism from Sosie two days ago, is all the way out to 17-2 with one firm at present.

The fact that Aidan O’Brien reeled off a four-timer on the card here on Saturday, including two Group One wins, can only add to the confidence behind the trainer’s main hope Los Angeles, while his second Group One winner yesterday was a big outsider ridden by Christophe Soumillon – just like his second-string in today’s Arc, the 2023 St Leger winner, Continuous.

Al Riffa, trained in Ireland by Joseph O’Brien but due to be ridden this afternoon by Japan’s veteran superstar jockey, Yutaka Take, is currently the only older horse at a single-figure price, but you could make some sort of case for at least a dozen of the runners. Bluestocking and Sunway, the only contenders from British stables, are definitely in that dozen, although in terms of both numbers and likely odds, this is the weakest British challenge for the Arc for some time.

There are plenty of live contenders from British yards on the undercard, though, and in the Prix de l’Abbaye in particular, where Bradsell and Hollie Doyle head the market as they go in search of their third Group One win in a row, and their fourth in all.

Ralph Beckett’s Kinross, the Prix de la Foret winner two years ago and the runner-up last year, is back for another tussle with the 2023 winner, Kelina, at 4.40, while the card kicks off with two Group Ones for juveniles.

With six Group Ones for all ages, genders and at all distances up to a mile-and-a-half, there is something on the card for everyone and you can, as always, follow all the action live here on the blog from the first hoof-fall to the last.