FRENCH ACE BIDS TO GIVE GODOLPHIN A THIRD SUCCESS IN THE ARC AFTER SAKHEE AND MARIENBARD
t’s been 15 years since Godolphin last won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, Europe’s most prestigious hours race, but it would appear that Cloth Of Stars has every chance of setting the record straight at Chantilly Racecourse yesterday (6.05pm UAE).
After all, he is trained by none other than the incomparable Andre Fabre, the legendary French handler who has won a record seven Arcs and has been French racing’s champion trainer on no less than 27 occasions.
Like any of the 18 runners who will face the starter as Chantilly hosts the 2,400-metre contest for the second and last time before it heads back to its regular home at a refurbished Longchampion in 2018, Cloth Of Stars is in the race to win it.
Whether he has the ability, we will know today. But the son of the great Sea The Stars has every right to challenge for a share of the €5 million (Dh21.6 million) purse, the third richest in the world after the Pegasus cup ($12 million) and the Dubai World Cup ($10 million).
This season, Cloth Of Stars beat the highly-regarded Zarak in the Prix Ganay at Saint-Cloud by a short neck and, after being given a break, returned to finish second to German horse Dschingis Secret in the Group 2 Prix Foy at Chantilly on September 10.
Given the Arc is run over the same track would benefit both horse and rider, who will be now accustomed to the sharp turns at Chantilly, which might pose a problem to some of the others in the race which has attracted a large field of 18 runners.
Cloth Of Stars, an impressive winner of the Group 1 Prix Ganay at Saint-Cloud in May, prepped for the Arc with a runner-up placing in the Group 2 Prix Foy at Chantilly, home to Sunday’s renewal of the Arc, which is traditionally run at the under-construction Longchamp racecourse.
Ridden by Godolphin’s retained jockey Mickael Barzalona, the four-year-old Sea The Stars colt did not enjoy the best of runs on the day prompting Lisa-Jane Graffard of Godolphin to say: “Cloth Of Stars has been kept back for an end-of-season campaign and ran a fantastic race.
“He was a bit keen early on and did not get room at a crucial point.”
As a sub-plot, Godolphin trainer Andre Fabre will be looking to celebrate a personal milestone by winning the race for an unprecedented eighth time.
Today will mark the 30th anniversary since Fabre won the great race for the first time in 1987, with Trempolino.
Cloth Of Stars features in a strong field where the John Gosden-trained Enable is the red-hot ante-post favourite.
Sir Michael Stoute’s Ulysses, a four-year-old colt by Galileo is a proven Group 1 horse and should have a big shout, as will the Irishtrained duo of Winter and Order Of St George, German raider Dschingis Secret and the home hope Brametot.
Meanwhile, the Charlie Appleby-trained Wuheida returns to the scene of her most famous win, the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac, when she takes her place in the Prix de l’Opera, one of the showpiece races on a glittering Arc day card at Chantilly.