Longchamp Sunday card may produce Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe challengers for Enable

The Arc favorite waits in England, but many of her would-be challengers will see racing action Sunday in France.

Enable remains heavily favored to become the first three-time winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe after winning her Arc prep, the Yorkshire Oaks, but Longchamp’s card Sunday includes a host of Arc hopefuls. Chief among them is Sottsass, odds-on favorite to beat four rivals in the Group 2 Prix Niel.

The Niel, restricted to 3-year-olds, is one of three Arc preps on Sunday’s program along with the Group 1 Prix Vermeille for fillies and mares and the Group 2 Prix Foy, which is open to older horses and not sex-restricted. All three races are contested over the Arc distance of about 1 1/2 miles.

Sottsass carries silks very familiar to American racing fans, those of owner Peter Brant, for whom Sotsass won the French Derby in his most recent start. That race came on June 2, and the long gap between starts was designed by trainer Jean-Claude Rouget as Sottsass’s best path to the Arc.

There’s no doubt Sottsass comes into the autumn a fresh horse, and on the basis of his dominant French Derby win, where he beat 14 opponents, his talent is evident. To pick nits, however, the French Derby form has yet to be validated in any meaningful way. Runner-up Persian King hasn’t raced since, nor has third-place Motamarris. Fourth-place Cape of Good Hope returned to finish 10th in the Hampton Court Stakes and eighth in the Belmont Derby Invitational before running better Aug. 4 when third in the Saratoga Derby Invitational. Fifth-place Roman Candle has lost his two post-French Derby races but did come within a head last out of the highly regarded Headman, who was to race Saturday in the Irish Champion Stakes.

There’s also a question of distance regarding Sottsass, who races beyond 1 5/16 miles for the first time. Sottsass will have Mirco Demuro on his back again and a pacemaker, Veronesi, to help him out. Mohawk, trained by Aidan O’Brien, appears to the principal challenger.

The Prix Foy often has a short field and this year is no exception, but though only four are slated to go to post, two of them, Kiseki and Waldgeist, are very interesting. Kiseki especially merits attention making his first start outside Japan, where he has won only twice in 13 starts but has been Group 1-placed in four of his last five starts.

Waldgeist is a known quantity and easily won this race a year ago before finishing fourth behind Enable, Sea of Class, and Cloth of Stars in the Arc. Waldgeist most recently finished third behind Enable and Crystal Ocean in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and appears to have solidly held his form through his 5-year-old season.

The highest-rated (and regarded) horses in the Prix Vermeille all are 3-year-olds shipping from England and Ireland. Star Catcher, Enable’s John Gosden-trained stablemate, has developed beautifully this season and comes into Sunday’s start after a stalk-and-pounce win in the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes over 1 1/2 miles at Royal Ascot and a front-running half-length victory at the expense of Fleeting in the 1 1/2-mile Irish Oaks.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained Fleeting was gaining on Star Catcher late in the Irish Oaks, and don’t hold her fourth-place finish in Sistercharlie’s Beverly D. Stakes too much against her since Fleeting had considerable trouble into the first turn of that race and was left with far too much to do at a 1 3/16-mile distance short of her best.

Anapurna, another Gosden-trained filly, makes her first start since she won the Oaks at Epsom on May 31, beating Pink Dogwood, another O’Brien trainee. Frankie Dettori rode both Anapurna and Star Catcher in their last start and is aboard Star Catcher on Sunday while Oisin Murphy picks up the mount on Anapurna.

This is a very strong group of 3-year-old fillies whose Arc chances, Enable or not, shouldn’t be discounted. Three-year-old fillies get a massive weight break in the Arc and have won four of the last eight Arcs, with Sea of Class just missing an upset of Enable last season. Weight allowance or not, it will take a special horse to emerge from Sunday’s races as a serious threat to the great Enable.