Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), the favourite for the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Oct. 2, is “where he needs to be” ahead of the €5-million contest, said trainer Roger Varian on Friday.
“Postponed is doing fine and all his preparations are going well,” Varian. “I'm pleased with him. He is where he needs to be and is on schedule for the Arc.”
Postponed, campaigned as a homebred by Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, will be looking for his seventh straight win–and four Group 1s in succession–in the Arc. The 5-year-old kicked off the streak in last year's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. and added the G2 Prix Foy before the end of the term. He resumed with a three-length score in the G2 Dubai City of Gold at Meydan Mar. 5 before adding the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic three weeks later, and returned to Britain to best Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) by 4 1/2-lengths in the G1 Coronation Cup in May. He was most recently seen beating this year's King George winner, Highland Reel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), in the G1 Juddmonte International Aug. 17.
Assessing the competition, Varian said, “It's going to be a strong race and there are lots of horses I respect. I thought the race at Leopardstown [last weekend's G1 Irish Champion S. won by Almanzor] was fascinating, although it was quite a rough race. It's a short straight at Leopardstown and I would not condemn the horses that didn't win there.”
Fourth in the Irish Champion was last year's G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner New Bay (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), and Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, has confirmed the colt for the Arc. Grimthorpe was less committal about Midterm (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), who returned from an injury induced layoff to be second in the G2 Prix Niel last weekend.
“Midterm has come out of the race well,” Grimthorpe said. “There's no decision on where he runs yet. New Bay will head to the Arc, but that will have no bearing on whether Midterm goes there.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
