Seventeen Arc Contenders Remain, with O’Brien Poised to Supplement Minnie Hauk

[Wandering Eyes]

Aidan O'Brien looks set to saddle Los Angeles (Camelot) and Minnie Hauk (Frankel) in Sunday's G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp, with the latter expected to be supplemented later this week to join the current cast of 17 contenders for Europe's richest race.

Minnie Hauk has enjoyed a faultless campaign so far and will make her first trip to France following three consecutive Group 1 wins in the Oaks at Epsom, Irish Oaks at the Curragh and Yorkshire Oaks at York.

Coral make her the 4/1 joint-favourite alongside last year's Arc runner-up Aventure (Sea The Stars), with Croix Du Nord (Kitasan Black) next in the list at 8/1 to provide Japan with an elusive first success in the race.

Speaking at the weekend, O'Brien said, “Everything has gone well with them since their last runs. Christophe [Soumillon] rode Minnie Hauk during the week and he was very happy.”

Los Angeles was beaten less than three lengths when finishing third in last year's Arc and O'Brien is confident that the four-year-old is returning to his best as he seeks a first victory since winning May's G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh.

“Los Angeles has made great improvement since his last run and, if the ground gets soft, it would bring him right into it – he's a big powerhouse,” O'Brien told Racing TV.

“The Arc was his plan all year. It went a little bit wrong at Ascot and he had a hard race. We had to back away and because of that he was a little bit behind for his first run back at the Curragh. But we felt he came forward well from there to France the last day [when finishing fourth in Prix Foy]. We felt he was going to move on again, so hopefully this run will be better than his last run. His work has been very nice.”

Other potential challengers from Ireland include Jessica Harrington's Hotazhell (Too Darn Hot) and John Murphy's White Birch (Ulysses), while the three remaining British-trained contenders following Monday's forfeit stage are Marco Botti's Giavellotto (Mastercraftsman), the David O'Meara-trained Estrange (Night Of Thunder) and Kalpana (Study Of Man) from Andrew Balding's yard.

Croix Du Nord is one of three Japanese hopefuls, together with Alohi Alii (Duramente) and Byzantine Dream (Epiphaneia), while Christophe Ferland's Aventure is joined on the home team by significant runners for each of Andre Fabre and Francis-Henri Graffard. Fabre is set to saddle both Cualificar (Lope De Vega) and Sosie (Sea The Stars) as he seeks a record-extending ninth success in the Arc, while Daryz (Sea The Stars), Gezora (Almanzor) and Quisisana (Le Havre) make up the potential challenge from the Graffard stable.

Finally, Jean-Claude Rouget is also set to be double-handed in 2025, having won two of the last five editions, with his Arrow Eagle (Gleneagles) and Leffard (Le Havre) completing the list of possible contenders.

On Monday morning, France Galop reported a going stick reading of 7.2, which equates to good to soft ground, and there is little to no rain forecast for the rest of the week.

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