Heavy going and his first trip away from England could not slow the momentum of talented 2-year-old Olympic Glory, who captured the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere by 1 1/4 lengths over the talented filly What a Name on the Arc undercard Sunday at Longchamp.
Cirrus des Aigles won the Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp racecourse in Paris on Saturday as a prep race for a defense of his title in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot, England, on Oct. 20.
Ace English 2-year-old trainer Richard Hannon has his usual bevy of fleet juveniles this season, and he will try to win the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on the Arc undercard on Sunday with Olympic Glory.
The Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is set for Sunday afternoon at Longchamp in Paris. A field of 18 passed the final scratch phase Friday morning. Here’s hoping they all make it to the gate.
Starspangledbanner, the winner of two Group 1 races in England in 2010, can win his first stakes of 2012 in a competitive running of the Group 1 Prix de la Foret at Longchamp on Sunday.
Izzi Top will be favored in a field of 14 in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera for fillies and mares over 1 1/4 miles, a race that offers an automatic berth to the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
With three horses supplemented to the race on Thursday and another horse removed from the race, Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe seems set to go with a field of 18, barring withdrawals at the final declaration stage on Friday morning.
Cirrus des Aigles, who has won three Group 1 races in as many countries in the last year, will be heavily favored to win his first start since May in Saturday’s Group 2 Prix Dollar at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien said that he would have two Arc runners, St Nicholas Abbey and Camelot, after putting both horses through workouts at his Ballydoyle training center in Ireland on Wednesday morning.
North American residents will be able to wager directly into the parimutuel pools at Longchamp in France on Saturday and Sunday for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe festival in a deal worked out by AmWest Entertainment.
