Golden Horn’s Arc Task Gets Tougher

As the draw for Sunday’s G1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was made, there was the usual mix of relief and despair, with connections of Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}) among the unfortunate few and those of Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) breathing easier. Anthony Oppenheimer’s homebred sensation has been handed stall 14 for his stiffest task to date around the Longchamp bends, with trainer John Gosden announcing to the Racing Post on Friday, “We expected a high draw and we got one.”

With Sakhee, Dalakhani (Ire) and Treve the only winners from a double-digit draw in recent times, it will take a monumental effort for the G1 Epsom Derby, G1 Eclipse S. and G1 Irish Champion S. hero to emerge on top of the favorite who is housed in eight. At least the ground has turned for England’s main prospect, with drying weather and lack of rain combining to bolster his chances.

“It’s very exciting and I’m very much looking forward to it,” Oppenheimer said on Friday. “He’s a horse who likes to come from behind, so I suppose he is better being drawn where he is than being on the inside. There is always pressure on everybody in these situations, I’m afraid, but I think Treve has more to lose. If the ground is good as they are predicting, we’ll find out.”

Gosden added, “He is a horse who has had his greatest races on quick ground with a strong pace in front of him. Unfortunately in the Eclipse and the Irish Champion, they were both small fields with no front runner and he was drawn in one, on the rail, in both cases. He was forced to make the running which, quite frankly, is not his style and to that extent I’d like to see him run in a race with a decent pace and he can come from off it.”

His conditioner is keen to see him back on a livelier surface than he encountered at both York, when suffering a surprise defeat when second in the Aug. 19 G1 Juddmonte International, and at Leopardstown when overcoming a tactical quandary in the Irish Champion Sept. 12.

“His best surface is good-to-firm, there’s no doubt about it, he has great acceleration,” he added, while jockey Frankie Dettori is also happy to see the unusually warm conditions leading up to the feature.

“Ground is key with him,” the Italian said. “Treve loves Longchamp and has looked very, very good, but you have to go into the race with the Derby winner thinking you can beat her.”

After Treve received an ideal posting for her bid for immortality on Sunday, Al Shaqab’s Racing Manager Harry Herbert was feeling the buzz on Friday.

“It looks pretty much spot on,” he said. “If you asked Criquette, I know she would say she wouldn’t mind where she was drawn, but I think you’d prefer down the middle, so eight looks pretty good–it all helps. There’s a phenomenal build-up to the Arc and the promotion of the race in Paris is huge–there are signs and billboards everywhere you look.”

Those who have fared badly from the draw along with Golden Horn include the Aidan O’Brien-trained filly Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who surely faces an insurmountable task posted in 15, and her compatriot Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), who will exit from the 12 hole. Also in double figures are the leading older challengers Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}) in 11 and Dolniya (Fr) (Azamour {Ire}) in 13.

The former, who was eighth in 2013 and second in this 12 months ago, has enjoyed a confidence-boosting win in the Aug. 29 GI Sword Dancer S. and Khalid Abdullah’s racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe said of him, “He certainly wants fast ground. You saw him win the Sword Dancer, he was pretty impressive there and he put away the best of the Americans pretty comfortably. Treve has beaten him twice, in the [June 28] G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and the Arc last year–that’s no disgrace. He’s an honest, thoroughly reliable, consistent horse. I think Andre is pretty happy with him now.”

The same team’s leading hope New Bay (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) will break from the advantageous stall five one outside another premier colt of his generation in the Niarchos Family’s Erupt (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). First and fourth, respectively, and worlds apart in the course-and-distance G2 Prix Niel Sept. 13, the latter will need to rebound to the form of his success in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris also over this track and trip July 14, but will be helped by the return to a much faster surface.