It’s strange calling an unbeaten French Derby winner an unknown quantity, but that might be an apt description of Ace Impact, who lines up Sunday at Longchamp Racecourse as the favorite to win the Group 1, $5.28 million Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Ace Impact faces 14 foes in the 1 1/2-mile fixture, which is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series and is contested around right-handed bends over a course as of Friday labeled soft. Breezy, warm weekend conditions could lead to an upgrade that might include the word “good.” Good, not great, is how this Arc feels, with Ace Impact sitting at about 3-1 with British bookmakers Friday. That seems about right. Ace Impact, a son of Cracksman, is one of five 3-year-olds in the field, all of whom get six pounds from older male rivals. No 3-year-old fillies contest this year’s Arc, and a year after the mare Alpinista triumphed, the field includes but one older mare, Place du Carrousel. :: Get free PPs for racing at Longchamp Racecourse. The leading older horses appear to be Hukum and Westover, both based in England. The pair was separated by a head after Hukum came out on top of an epic stretch battle in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes on July 29 at Ascot. Neither horse has raced since, and Hukum, a late-developing 6-year-old, makes his French debut. Westover twice has shipped across the English Channel, finishing a respectable sixth of 20 as a 3-year-old in last year’s Arc and easily winning the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud this past summer over modest competition. Both are serious horses, with Westover especially liable to turn in a competitive performance, but no older England-based male has won the Arc since Marienbard in 2002. :: Bet the races with a $250 First Deposit Match + $10 Free Bet and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. Three-year-old Continuous is the shortest price among horses coming from England or Ireland. History is not on his side, though connections paid a $126,000 supplemental entry fee to get the colt into the Arc. Continuous two weeks ago won the St. Leger Stakes over 1 3/4 miles, and he’d be the first St. Leger winner to win an Arc. His trainer, two-time Arc winner Aiden O’Brien, has tried the move four times with no luck. Continuous is a much better horse than his ninth-place finish in the French Derby. In the St. Leger, he did show handiness and acceleration getting off the rail while making his winning bid under Ryan Moore, who has a return call. Also supplemented was 3-year-old Fantastic Moon, a German colt whose jockey, Rene Piechulek, won the 2021 Arc on the German longshot Torquator Tasso, who was a strong third in last year’s renewal. Do not take Fantastic Moon lightly. Young German trainer Sarah Steinberg has proven capable handling high-class performers, and Fantastic Moon, by Sea the Moon, is amply talented. He rallied furiously from the back of a 20-horse field to win the 1 1/2-mile Duetsches Derby by 2 1/4 lengths over Mr. Hollywood, another Arc entrant. In his first start outside Germany, Fantastic Moon smartly won the Prix Niel, an Arc prep three weeks ago. When Nations Pride beat him by three lengths at Munich in July, Fantastic Moon could not show his best over soft going, and connections, fearing similar going in the Arc, initially targeted the Breeders’ Cup Turf or the Japan Cup following the Niel. That plan changed after it began to seem likely Fantastic Moon would get the good ground he needs Sunday. Ace Impact, meanwhile, has a most unusual profile. Unraced at 2, he debuted in January over the all-weather course at Cagnes-Sur-Mer, an extremely unlikely launching pad for a top-class horse. Ace Impact won his second start at Bordeaux le Buscat and had not even started in a group stakes when he stormed to a 3 1/2-length win in the French Derby. The colt Ace Impact ran down to win, Big Rock, has high-level ability but is a miler who was trying to navigate 1 5/16 miles. And in his lone subsequent start, Ace Impact won the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano by just three-quarters of a length over totally unproven Al Riffa. The mount of Cristian Demuro, Ace Impact never has raced at Longchamp nor gone as far as 1 1/2 miles, though neither factor concerns trainer Jean-Claude Rouget. Ace Impact, who will come from well off the pace, has a long leaping stride surprising for a colt of modest stature. The presumption is he has potential yet to be revealed. That will have to be the case if he’s to win the Arc. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.