Chantilly's Arc card also holds the promise of unveiling future stars, with the juvenile fillies taking their turn in Sunday's G1 Total Prix Marcel Boussac, a “Win And You're In” for the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar in November, which in recent times has played host to two eventual Arc heroines in Zarkava (Ire) (Zamindar) and Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). Since 2002, eight of the 15 winners have gone on to further Group 1 glory, with the likes of Six Perfections (Fr) (Celtic Swing {GB}), Divine Proportions (Kingmambo), Finsceal Beo (Ire) (Mr. Greeley) and Misty for Me (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) subsequently placing themselves among the elite of either sex. The latter was one of four scorers from Ballydoyle and representing the unequivocally powerful outfit this time is Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who is split up from her closely-matched stable companion Happily (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who heads to the Lagardere to take on the colts. Magical, a full-sister to Rhododendron (Ire), had that barnmate's measure in the G2 Debutante S. over seven furlongs at The Curragh Aug. 20 before just losing out to her by a short head three weeks later in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. over the same course and distance.
While Magical sets the form standard, this is one of the races on the fixture where the domestic trainees have a strong hand and the Wertheimer brothers put forward two serious prospects in Polydream (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) and Soustraction (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}). The former is unbeaten in two starts for the Freddy Head stable and accounted for the subsequent G2 May Hill S. winner Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) with something in hand in the G3 Prix du Calvados over seven furlongs at Deauville Aug. 19.
“I thought the Cheveley Park might be a bit quick for her, so we've gone for the Boussac,” trainer Freddy Head explained. “I think she'll get a mile, but it's not written on the wall. It's a bit early to be thinking about next year, the French Guineas is back at Longchamp next year. She's in very good form and I think she's a very talented filly.”
Soustraction has more to offer, as she was breaking her maiden when getting the better of Polydream's stablemate and 'TDN Rising Star' Efaadah (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) and Godolphin's re-opposing 'TDN Rising Star' Wild Illusion (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G3 Prix d'Aumale which serves as a course-and-distance trial for this Sept. 3.
“She is my best 2-year-old and it will take a good one to beat her,” Carlos Laffon-Parias said of Soustraction. “She has improved, she is from the same family as Solemia.”
Wild Illusion's trainer Charlie Appleby, who saddled last year's winner Wuheida (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), believes there is much more to come from the homebred, who had impressed on her debut when winning over this trip at Yarmouth Aug. 22. “Wild Illusion was impressive on her first start at Yarmouth and I felt that she learned an awful lot last time out,” he said. “She has subsequently improved again and we felt that she deserved to take her chance in Sunday's race.”
It is always unwise to leave a Jean-Claude Rouget representative out of the equation and although Riviera Equine's Mission Impassible (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) has improvement to find on her latest three-length success in the Listed Criterium de l'Ouest over this trip at Craon Sept. 2, that is not out of the question. Teruya Yoshida's Sept. 3 G3 Zukunftsrennen scorer Narella (Ire) (Reliable Man {GB}) is a fascinating protagonist alongside Martin Schwartz Racing and Alain Jathiere's July 1 G3 Prix du Bois winner and Aug. 20 G1 Prix Morny fourth Zonza (Fr) (Alex the Winner) in a strong renewal.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
