13 September 2019
Photos scoopdyga.com
The Sunday card at ParisLongchamp is cast in the role of Qatar Arc Trials day. Granted that there are three weeks to go to the big day, the aim is simple to define as, by taking a place on the starting grid and showing the required level of form, the horse in question can seal its passage for the forthcoming Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr1).
• The Qatar Prix Vermeille, a Group 1 event for three-year-old fillies, has attracted the biggest number of runners in the ‘trials’, having drawn a field of nine. It presents an opportunity to get another glimpse of the Prix de Diane Longines winner, the French-trained Channel, whose opponents include a pair of runners from the formidable yard of British trainer, John Gosden, the handler readily associated with Enable.
• The Qatar Prix Foy (Gr2) above all marks the French debut of the Japanese challenger Kiseki. However, Waldgeist, the defending champion and subsequent fourth in the Arc, will be the hot favourite.
• The leading French contender in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe returns in the Qatar Prix Niel (Gr2), which is the sole province of the three-year-old brigade. We are referring to Sottsass, the QIPCO Prix du Jockey-Club winner will be tackling the 2,400 metres trip for the first time but who is very much in a league of his own!
THE QATAR PRIX VERMEILLE
The Qatar Prix Vermeille occupies a special place on the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe trials card. As it is the only one of the three ‘preps’ to enjoy Group 1 status: the highest status in world racing. This means that the Qatar Prix Vermeille is a very much a stepping stone [to the Arc] in addition to constituting an objective in itself.
The last five fillies to complete the Vermeille-Arc double
- Year Filly
- 2013 Trêve
- 2008 Zarkava
- 1979 Three Troïkas
- 1972 San San
- 1945 Nikellora
How the last seven Qatar Prix Vermeille winners fared in the Arc
- Year The Prix Vermeille winner Subsequent performance in the Arc
- 2018 Kitesurf Non-runner
- 2017 Bateel Non-runner
- 2016 Left Hand 12th
- 2015 Trêve 4th
- 2014 Baltic Baroness Non-runner
- 2013 Trêve 1st
- 2012 Shareta 9th
A total of nine fillies will line up in this year’s Qatar Prix Vermeille. It will be no easy task for the French-trained fillies as the four foreign raiders are all fine performers in their own right. Star Catcher (Sea the Stars), representing the formidable John Gosden - Lanfranco Dettori team, annexed the Irish Oaks: our equivalent of the Prix de Diane Longines. Anapurna (Frankel), similarly trained by John Gosden, is unbeaten this season and is coming off a win in the Epsom Oaks in which she finished in front of Pink Dogwood (Camelot) and Fleeting (Zoffany): the re-opposing two candidates of top Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien. It’s difficult to ascertain how good she is – granted that the daughter of Frankel is very lightly raced.
Channel (Nathaniel) will be the leading home-trained contender. The filly, the very first thoroughbred owned by Samuel de Barros, triumphed in the Prix de Diane Longines, but she was subsequently well beaten in the Qatar Nassau Stakes (Gr1).
Click here to download the Qatar Prix Vermeille's runners fact files.
THE QATAR PRIX NIEL
The Qatar Prix Niel is the traditional stepping stone for the three-year-old colts en route to the
Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. The last to complete the double was Rail Link in 2006.
However, this year’s renewal, having attracted a mere four runners, will be graced by a class act: the QIPCO Prix du Jockey-Club winner Sottsass (Siyouni).
A compilation of Niel-Arc winners since 1990
- Year Horse
- 2006 Rail Link
- 2005 Hurricane Run
- 2003 Dalakhani
- 2000 Sinndar
- 1999 Montjeu
- 1998 Sagamix
- 1996 Helissio
- 1994 Carnegie
How the last seven winners of the Prix Niel have fared in the Arc
- Year Prix Niel winner Subsequent Arc performance
- 2018 Brundtland Non-runner
- 2017 Cracksman Non-runner
- 2016 Makahiki 14th
- 2015 New Bay 3rd
- 2014 Ectot 17th
- 2013 Kizuna 4th
- 2012 Saônois Unplaced
Sottsass will be a warm order in this event and he will the services of a pacemaker, Veronesi (Kendargent), who will be entrusted with making it a true test. Sottsass will be tackling 2,400m/1m4f for the first time but he is stoutly-bred on his dam’s side. The two foreign contenders include Mohawk (Galileo). He contested the QIPCO Prix du Jockey-Club in which he was well held by Sottsass. He failed to cut the mustard on his previous start in the US. The German challenger, Quest the Moon (Sea the Moon), won the Prix du Lys (Gr3) on French soil – before finishing fourth in the Deutsches Derby, although the form of the classic hasn’t been working out very well.
A solitary filly will be tackling the ‘boys’ and she revels in the name of Mutamakina (Nathaniel). In full bloom, she was recently second in the Shadwell Prix de la Nonette (Group 2).
Click here to download the Qatar Prix Niel's runners fact files.
THE QATAR PRIX FOY
The Qatar Prix Foy carries Group 2 status and is the traditional ‘lead-up’ race for colts aged four and above to the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Some fillies have also used it as a conduit to the Arc rather than the Qatar Prix Vermeille. Lest we forget, the latter race is not just a prep race but an ‘end’ in itself in view of its Group 1 status. Although there are no distaffers in this year’s renewal. The "Foy-Arc" double was last completed in 1984. Only four will go to post on Sunday but the mere presence of the Japanese runner, Kiseki (Rulership), has a fascination all of its own…
- The last horses to complete the Foy-Arc double
- Year Horse
- 1984 Sagace
- 1974 Allez France
How the last seven Prix Foy winners have fared in the Arc
- Year Prix Foy winner Subsequent performance in the Arc
- 2018 Waldgeist 4th
- 2017 Dschingis Secret 6th
- 2016 Silverwave 13th
- 2015 Postponed Non-runner
- 2014 Ruler of the World 9th
- 2013 Orfèvre 2nd
- 2012 Orfèvre 2nd
Three Japanese raiders have been earmarked for the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr1), but only one is currently in France. Kiseki has been bedding-in at Chantilly and, on Sunday, he will be ridden by Christophe Soumillon. Kiseki was the author of a career-best performance following his second in the 2018 edition of the Japan Cup. He found only Almond Eye (Lord Kanaloa) too good on that occasion, having set a very searching gallop. He has only raced twice during the 2019 season and over trips which are on the sharp side for him, namely the Osaka Hai (Gr1, 2,000m/10f) followed by the Takarazuka Kinen (Gr1, 2,200m/11f). A generous horse by nature, he has been trained with this race, the Arc, in mind. Kiseki is trained by Katsuhiko Sumii whose Victoire Pisa (Neo Universe) contested the 2010 ‘Arc’.
However, he will need to be firing on all cylinders if he is to beat the defending champion,
Waldgeist (Galileo), who went on to finish fourth in the 2018 ‘Arc. He was an imperious winner of the Prix Ganay (Gr1) on his 2019 return, before running twice at Ascot, where on each occasion he came up against true champions. On a ground that was too soft for his liking, he was third in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes (Gr1) won by Crystal Ocean (Sea the Stars). The latter would have been the main rival of Enable (Nathaniel) in the Arc, but for his untimely injury on Thursday. Waldgeist was also third in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr1), the British equivalent of the ‘Arc, which went the way of the ‘champion’ Enable who beat a certain Crystal Ocean.
Click here to download the Qatar Prix Foy's runners fact files.