Arc winner Treve will make 2015 debut in Prix Corrida

Treve, the two-time winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, makes her 2015 debut on Friday at Saint-Cloud in the Group 2 Prix Corrida.

The 5-year-old mare scored a smashing victory in the 2013 Arc, and after a slow start to her 4-year-old season, she bounced back into form and won her second Arc last fall. Shortly afterward, owner Sheikh Joaan al Thani’s Al Shaqab Racing made the surprising announcement that Treve would remain in training for a 2015 campaign.

That begins Friday in a far less ambitious spot than trainer Christiane Head-Maarek chose for Treve’s 2014 debut, the Group 1 Prix Ganay, where she was beaten a neck by Cirrus des Aigles. Treve went on to finish a disappointing third in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, after which her trainer spent much of the summer nursing the filly through foot and back issues and back into the form that would win her a second Arc.

Treve is reported to be training with verve for her season debut, and if she turns in a performance anywhere near her standard, she will make this return to the races a winning one. The Prix Corrida, at about 1 5/16 miles over ground expected to be good to soft, drew eight other entrants, none of whom would trouble Treve on even an average day.

California Chrome progresses

California Chrome is progressing toward an intended start next month in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the Royal Ascot meet and will have a major racecourse gallop either June 4 or June 5, probably under Frankie Dettori, according to a posting on the website of trainer Rae Guest, at whose training yard California Chrome has been stabled since he shipped to England following a second-place finish in the Dubai World Cup.

Alan Sherman, assistant to trainer Art Sherman, plans to fly to England on June 2, according to the website.