Parislongchamp Sunday

3.05 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de

(3yo+ Colts & Fillies) 1m 4f

Daryz has more going for him this year than he did leading in to the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe 12 months ago. He can become just the ninth horse to win France’s greatest race for a second time at Longchamp on Sunday.

Trained by Francis Graffard, the reigning and soon-to-be-anointed dual French champion, this son of Sea The Stars has an outstanding record at this track - seven wins and a short-head defeat when negatively-ridden on his return from a lay-off from eight attempts.

Sure, he has failed to fire in two visits to Britain, but his disappointing overseas sortie this season, when third in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, just behind Minnie Hauk, was considerably better than his Juddmonte International flop the previous season and he had the valid excuse of a low-level virus this time around.

The likely good ground will be more in his favour than 2025’s ‘very soft’ given that he has showed outstanding speed in landing a pair of Group 1s over shorter trips in the spring. And anyone believing that the race conditions of the Arc favour three-year-olds is ignoring the statistic that just three of its last ten winners have come from the prevailing classic crop.

Prevail once more

Simply a repetition of the level of last term’s triumph, when there was a yawning gap of five and a half lengths back to the third horse home, would probably be enough to see him prevail once more.

Minnie Hauk was just a head behind that day and then finished in front of him at Royal Ascot this June, but all four of her other outings this season have been substandard, to such an extent that jockey Ryan Moore has deserted her in favour of one of Aidan O’Brien’s other two runners, Diamond Necklace.

Should a first attempt at a mile and a half bring improvement to this half-sister to a number of high-class performers over this distance and beyond, Diamond Necklace could prove to be Daryz’s biggest danger.

She might even have been vying for favouritism had she not run in August’s Group 1 Prix Jean Romanet, where she surrendered her unbeaten record rather tamely, but that run is hard to forgive. And she is drawn out in stall 16.

O’Brien’s third contender, Benvenuto Cellini, is on a more unlikely recovery mission given that, even on his peak performance when third in the Group 1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, he has two lengths to make up on Kalpana, and he looked less than enthusiastic when fifth of seven to the reopposing Varandir in a course and distance trial for this race in the Group 2 Prix Niel.

Bounced back

The other Irish challenger is the Group 1 Epsom Oaks winner, Thundering On, trained by Joseph O’Brien. Following a modest fourth in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes, she bounced back in Group 2 company three weeks ago but probably needs softer underfoot conditions to be seen at her best.

A case can be made for both Kalpana and Varandir but the former, a five-year-old mare who may have progressed again this season, was well beaten in the 2025 Arc, while Varandir is held by Maltese Cross on the form of the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris, run over this track and trip in July. So I think that the betting market has got it right and the second favourite, the William Haggas-trained Maltese Cross, is the one most likely to chase Daryz home.

Another son of the 2009 Arc hero, GiIltown Stud’s Sea The Stars, Maltese Cross suffered his solitary defeat when second on ground that was much more testing than he prefers in the Group 1 Epsom Derby and looked good when last seen in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes.

If there is to be a shock result, perhaps the source will be the Japanese raider, Meisho Tabaru, who, along with Friendly Soul, is one of few potential front-runners in the field and might prove difficult to peg back if allowed too much rope.

SELECTION: DARYZ

Next best: Maltese Cross

12.31 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac (Group 1) (2yo Fillies) 1m

A mighty spanner was thrown in the works of the Group 1 Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac on Thursday when Amusingly, its ante-post favourite, was supplemented to take on the boys in the furlong shorter Group 1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

My selection here is Data, who got pinned against the inside rail when finishing third, behind Amusingly, in the traditional trial, the Group 2 Prix d’Aumale. Previously a Group 3 scorer, her trainer, Christopher Head, has a powerful bunch of two-year-olds at his disposal this year and Data has long been the apple of his eye.

Aidan O’Brien saddles three of the 12 runners but the leading Irish candidate is Joseph O’Brien’s Green Empress, who has had the misfortune of running into Sun Goddess on three of her four career starts but, when able to slip from her shadow, carried off the Group 2 Debutante Stakes and should appreciate this step up to a mile.

SELECTION: DATA

Next best: Green Empress

1.09 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc

Lagardere (Group 1)

(2yo Colts & Fillies) 7f

If Data lands the Boussac, Christopher Head will be more than hopeful of a big juvenile double as he saddles his best colt, Avec Toi, whose four unbeaten starts include three at Stakes level, in the Lagardere. However, it was impossible to be anything but impressed with the way that Folsom Blues stormed clear to register a six-length victory in the Group 1 National Stakes and Joseph O’Brien’s charge, who had earlier done well to get within a length and a quarter of the mighty Sun Goddess in the Phoenix Stakes, cannot be opposed.

Further Irish participation in a field of 11 is provided by an Aidan O’Brien trio headed by the Group 2 Richmond Stakes hero, Man’s Best Friend, while the supplemented solitary filly, Amusingly, also merits respect and the Brian Meehan-trained longshot Crusherman could outrun his odds.

SELECTION: FOLSOM BLUES

Next best: Crusherman

1.47 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp Longines (Group 1) (2yo+) 5f

Aidan O’Brien’s Mission Central, who has failed to fire in all three starts since surprising in Group 1 company at Royal Ascot in June, is the only Irish runner among a 15-strong field for the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye.

There would be no better story all weekend than the 20,000 guineas purchase Naana’s Shadow following up her course and distance Group 3 Prix du Petit Couvert success for the tiny Scottish stable of Katie Scott.

Much as I would like it to happen, I can’t bring myself to back a filly with an unfavourable high draw who was beaten off a handicap mark of 77 less than five months ago at relatively short odds in a Group 1.

I prefer Rumstar of those near the head of the market but might just take a flyer with the Ed Bethell-trained outsider Corolla Point.

SELECTION: COROLLA POINT

Next best: Rumstar

3.50 Prix de l’Opera Longines (Group 1) (3yo+ Fillies) 1m

Aidan O’Brien’s Precise makes her 10th consecutive Group 1 outing here. She has won three of them, but has suffered four straight reverses since Royal Ascot and may not be able to able to cope with the former Arc runner-up and recent conqueror of Diamond Necklace, Aventure, or John and Thady Gosden’s up-and-coming Curragh Group 3 winner, Miss Scott.

SELECTION: AVENTURE

Next best: Miss Scott

4.25 Qatar Prix de la Foret (Group 1) (3yo+) 7f

Eight declarations mean a much smaller field than is usual here for what is a rematch of July’s Group 1 Prix Jean Prat over this distance at Deauville, when Fozzy Stack’s Thesecretadversary led home an Irish 1-2 ahead of the Aidan O’Brien representative True Love with Nighttime and Samangan close behind.

Subsequently successful in the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest, I take Samangan to reverse that form for the red-hot trainer/owner/breeder combination of Francis Graffard and the Aga Khan Studs.

SELECTION: SAMANGAN

Next best: Thesecretadversary