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 Lagardere is a Win and You’re In event for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
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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.
The 2012 Arc already lacked the best middle-distance horse in the world – unbeaten Frankel is taking a pass on France in favor of the Champion Stakes at Ascot – and in the last 10 days top contenders Snow Fairy (injury), 2011 Arc winner Danedream (trapped by a German quarantine), and Nathaniel (fever) have dropped from the race.
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.
The seven-furlong Prix de la Foret, which drew 12 entrants, will be run as the first Thoroughbred race after the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
LIVE FROM LONGCHAMP: Watch full Saturday card | Watch full Sunday card
The 4-year-old filly Izzi Top has already earned a berth to the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf through her win in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes in Ireland in July.
Sunday, she 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 also offers an automatic berth to the BC Filly and Mare Turf.
LIVE FROM LONGCHAMP: Watch full Saturday card | Watch full Sunday card
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.
The Prix Dollar is one of four Group 2 races on Saturday’s Longchamp program. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is the top race on an outstanding program on Sunday.
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.
The agreement is the first ever to give North American bettors access to parimutuel pools in an overseas country, according to simulcasting officials. In other instances in which North American residents bet on overseas races, separate pools were set up to commingle the wagers.
The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe lost still another top contender when Nathaniel was taken out of consideration for Sunday’s race in Paris.
Nathaniel was said by his handlers to be running a temperature, and blood tests on the top England-based 4-year-old came back with unsatisfactory results. The problem has come up too close to the Arc for Nathaniel to be treated for whatever ails him.
