Snowfall leads star-studded Arc preview card

There are some very fine horses racing in the three Arc trials Sunday at Longchamp, but Snowfall is breathing different air than the rest of them right now.

A solid if unspectacular 2-year-old of 2020, Snowfall has been a superstar at age 3. Four for four on the season, Snowfall won the Oaks at Epsom by a remarkable 16 lengths, won the Irish Oaks at The Curragh by more than eight, and Aug. 19 at York captured the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks by four lengths in what might have been the easiest ride of jockey Ryan Moore’s career. Sunday, Snowfall will be heavily favored to win her fifth race of 2021 facing six rivals in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille, her lead-in to the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 3, a race Snowfall is favored to win.

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The Vermeille comes at Snowfall’s apparent sweet spot, 1 1/2 miles, and if she approaches her established form, no one is beating her. At York, Snowfall raced near the back of the field with 700 meters remaining when Moore gently flicked the reins at his mount. It took only a furlong for Snowfall to make up seven or eight lengths on the leaders, as she came through a wide gap between rivals and stormed to the front. Her turn of foot is electric, she comfortably stays 12 furlongs, and unlike Love, trainer Aidan O’Brien’s star 3-year-old filly of 2020, Snowfall does not require good or firm going. Longchamp as of Friday was rated “good” as Snowfall makes her first trip across the English Channel. With regular jockey Ryan Moore riding a major card Sunday in Ireland, Frankie Dettori, who rode Snowfall in the English Oaks, picks up the mount.

O’Brien also entered Joan of Arc, an excellent filly in her own right if not on Snowfall’s level. Beaten a nose in the Irish 1000 Guineas, Joan of Arc shipped to France in June and won the Prix de Diane, the French Oaks, over 1 5/16 miles. Her most recent start came July 29, when Joan of Arc mildly regressed finishing third behind Lady Bowthorpe and Zeyaadah in the 1 1/4-mile Nassau at Goodwood. Sunday’s start marks her first try over a distance as long as 1 1/2 miles.

No older fillies or mares were entered in the Vermeille, which also drew the solid French fillies Philomene and Burgarita – solid, but not up to Snowfall’s level.

The Prix Foy for older horses lost a prominent entrant Friday when Wonderful Tonight was diagnosed with a fractured fetlock suffered during training and was retired. But the Group 2 Foy still has substance with Deep Bond in from Japan in search of Arc glory and 6-year-old win machine Skalleti trying 1 1/2 miles for the first time.

Skalleti, a rags-to-riches gelding, is 4 for 4 this year with Group 1 wins over nine furlongs in the Prix d’Ispahan and over 10 last out racing at Munich in Germany. Skalleti’s major autumn goal is the 1 1/4-mile Champion Stakes at Ascot rather than the Arc, though it will be interesting to see if he can transfer his form to this longer trip.

Deep Bond last saw racing action in May, when he finished second of 17 in the Group 1 Tenno Sho Spring over two miles, but while the 4-year-old appears to be an improved horse this year, he must show more Sunday to be taken seriously as an Arc contender.

Broome rates far down the list of Arc players but still could win the Foy for O’Brien. He was in too tough while still finishing a creditable fourth last out in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and has proven a salty, solid 1 1/2-mile performer this season.

The Group 2 Prix Niel for 3-year-olds over 1 1/2 miles looks less compelling with Bolshoi Ballet, Dettori riding again for O’Brien, the top-rated runner among six entrants. Beaten favorite in the English Derby, Bolshoi Ballet has made his last two starts in New York, winning the Belmont Derby but finishing only fourth Aug. 7 when heavily favored in the Saratoga Derby Invitational. Run around tighter turns than Bolshoi Ballet ever had encountered and over a 1 3/16-mile trip short of his best, the Saratoga Derby is forgivable.

Bubble Gift didn’t appear to relish very soft going in his most recent start, a sixth-place finish July 14 in the Grand Prix de Paris, and should snugly fit this spot.

Love goes in Group 2

Love is the big name on Sunday’s important racing program at The Curragh in Ireland, and it is surprising indeed to see the 4-year-old filly entered in Group 2 competition.

Love, who this time last year was favored to win the Arc and the Breeders’ Cup Turf, has raced in seven straight Group 1s but on Sunday runs in the Blandford Stakes over 1 1/4 miles – though to be fair, this is a Group 2 in name only. In addition to Love, who won the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes in her 2021 debut, the Blandford drew Thundering Nights, who beat star 3-year-old Santa Barbara while giving weight in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes in June, and Cayenne Pepper, second in the 2020 Pretty Polly and in the Irish Oaks last year. Love has not gotten back to her 3-year-old peak this season and exits somewhat disappointing third-place finishes in the King George and the Juddmonte International.

The Curragh card includes three Group 1’s, two of them part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series: The Flying Five Stakes over a straight five furlongs is a Win and You’re In race linked to the BC Turf Sprint, and the Moyglare Stud Stakes, for 2-year-old fillies at seven furlongs, offers the winner automatic fees-paid entry into the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf and travel expenses to Del Mar.

Among 13 entered in the Flying Five is Glass Slippers, who parlayed a perfect trip into victory in the 2020 BC Turf Sprint at Keeneland. The 5-year-old mare has started only once since that race, finishing a modest third in the Group 2 Lenox on July 30, and is second favorite in antepost betting to sharp 3-year-old Winter Power, winner of the Group 1 Nunthorpe in his most recent race.

Favored in the Moyglare Stud is the Joseph O’Brien-trained Agartha, already a six-time starter in 2020 and a winner over seven furlongs in her last two outings. Homeless Songs, a homebred owned by the race’s sponsor and trained by Dermot Weld, has raced only once, beating Agartha on July 8 in a Leopardstown maiden.

The exciting Aidan O’Brien-trained colt Point Lonsdale, a winner in all four of his starts, is heavily favored in the Group 1 National Stakes for 2-year-olds at seven furlongs.

And finally, this year’s Belmont Gold Cup hero Baron Samedi is part of a 14-runner Irish St. Leger, a staying contest over 1 3/4 miles open to 3-year-olds and older horses.