Ratings Update: Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Longchamp Saturday

The warm-up card for the Arc is on a par with most major days of racing in the UK, and it featured four wins for horses trained in Britain and Ireland. Brundtland (remains 121p) didn't need to run up to the form he showed in the Prix Niel but it was still good enough to land the odds in the opener and keep his unbeaten record.

#QPAT L’écurie @godolphin ouvre le bal @paris_longchamp avec Brundtland #Dubawi (C. Appleby /W. Buick) qui devance sa compagne de couleurs #LillianRussel @AlexPantall @mickaelbarzalon au bout des 3.000m du #Qatar Prix #ChaudenayG2

pic.twitter.com/vSZ3wT7QNv

— France Galop (@francegalop) October 6, 2018

Ostilio (up 5 lb to 122) put up a very smart performance when leading home Oh This Is Us (119) and Hey Gaman (116) in a clean sweep for England in the Prix Daniel Wildenstein. Master Brewer (up 6 lb to 99p) won a valuable sales race, while the Gavin Cromwell-trained Princess Yaiza (up 3 lb to 112) won the closing Group 2 on the card.

Longchamp Sunday

Lily's Candle (up 11 lb to 104) cost only €15,000 as a yearling but changed hands for €390,000 at the Arc Sale the previous evening and won her new owner a good chunk of that back in showing further improvement to cause a surprise in the Prix Marcel Boussac, beating Matematica (up 9 lb to 103p) and Star Terms (103 from 101p) in a tight finish. The winner was still last over a furlong out but stayed on well when pulled to the outer to make her run, getting up in the final strides; she’ll need to improve further to win any more races at this level next term.

The Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (Grand Criterium) wasn’t the most competitive renewal of what should be France's top two-year-old contest, and while representatives of Europe's most powerful strings took the first two places, it's unlikely either Royal Marine (up 14 lb to 113p) or Broome (up 8 lb to 112) are at the top of their respective owners' pecking orders; the winner is a most progressive sort, though. Odds-on favourite Anodor (now 110) who finished third probably needs more use making of him; he's not one to write off, and will stay further than 1m.

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, back at its newly-renovated Longchamp home, had a standout contender on ratings and Enable (remains on 134) duly became the eighth dual winner of the race, fairly hot on the heels of Treve, though you have to go back to Alleged in the 1970s for the one before her. Enable's winning performance wasn't at the same level as in 2017, but injury meant she didn't reappear until September, plus she reportedly had a small setback in the meantime, all of which seemed to catch up with her in the closing stages after she looked set for a more decisive success when striking on over a furlong out, a struggle becoming an all-out scramble as Sea of Class (up from 123p to 128) flashed home.

#Arrivée #R1Parislongchamp #QPAT Enable (@FrankieDettori / J. H. M. Gosden) remporte la 97ème édition du Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe ! Elle résiste de justesse à Sea of Class. pic.twitter.com/UHLJUcTIqK

— Equidia (@equidia) October 7, 2018

There's still one last dot to be joined before Enable completes the connection to her heavy-weight rating from last year, safe to pencil it in given the level she's got to in amid some adversity, though the strains and stresses of Longchamp would be near the front of the mind if her campaign was extended to America for the Breeders' Cup Turf; she'll hopefully be kept in training as a five-year-old to try and succeed where Treve failed with an unprecedented third Arc.

Sea of Class ended her first season as she'd started it, with a narrow defeat, but to do it in an Arc just five races later tells the story of a phenomenal campaign in which she's grown in power and professionalism by the race, and what's more there's a strong case for saying (based on sectional upgrades) that she was the best horse in the race; she'll be a fixture in the elite Group 1s in 2019.

Cloth of Stars (up from 121+ to 128) placed in the Arc for a second year running, out of the blue this time but no fluke about it, staying on from off the pace, albeit not so far back as Sea of Class and getting a cleaner passage than Waldgeist (remains on 127); Cloth of Stars hasn't gone to the Breeders' Cup in the past, but he's more on the front foot for it than Talismanic (13^th, remains on 125) this year judged on this.

There was an element of what might have been for Waldgeist, fostered in part by the fact he'd slammed Cloth of Stars in three earlier meetings this season. Waldgeist had to fight his way through at the crucial stage, the ride and the race not really getting to the bottom of him; this has been his coming-of-age season, crying out to be kept in training at five.

Of the rest, Capri (124) may end up being as much of a flagbearer as Kew Gardens (127) for the stable in 2019, having missed the bulk of this season, during which time Stradivarius and Crystal Ocean reflected so well on him from last year's St Leger. This fifth-placed effort suggests his power is intact, fitter for the Foy, well positioned and leading briefly before Enable took over. Kew Gardens didn't answer the question one way or another as to whether he's got the gears for premier Group 1s over this trip, unfair to judge him on this given his draw and position (towards the rear), but he lacked the acceleration of others when it mattered. The pair were split by Salouen (up 3 lb to 123) who will be lucky to land a Group 1, but this is the third time in 2018 that he's put up a 120+ performance.

The three-year-old contingent fared much the best in the following Prix de l’Opera, a well-run race favouring those ridden with a bit of restraint, last year's winner Rhododendron (now 120) and Urban Fox (117) paying the price for being up with/close to the pace. Wild Illusion (up 3 lb to 119) followed up from the Nassau in this bigger field, this her third Group 1 success, her first coming in the Marcel Boussac on this card last year. Magic Wand (117) had been getting weight from Wild Illusion when beating her in the Ribblesdale the last time they met, but ran well again dropped in trip, while Homerique (up 3 lb to 117) ran her best race back at her optimum trip; she remains unexposed, this just the sixth start of her career which is only six months old.

With Battaash (fourth, down 3 lb to 133) again misfiring, the Prix de l’Abbaye was another Group 1 sprint up for grabs, the standard on the low side like in the Nunthorpe, and the one who missed out so narrowly that day got her reward here, Mabs Cross (118) leading late. With an outsider Gold Vibe (up 8 lb to 120) in second and the sole two-year-old Soldier’s Call (up 1 lb to 115) in third, nothing got into it from the second half of the field other than Lost Treasure (up from 106p to 119+) who ran a remarkable race for one with his background.

#Arrivée #R1Parislongchamp Mabs Cross (Gérald Mossé / @mdodsracing) toise Gold Vibe sur le fil dans le Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp Longines ! pic.twitter.com/1tchcEVRkk

— Equidia (@equidia) October 7, 2018

Finally, the William Haggas-trained One Master (119 from 108) rounded off another good day for the British raiding party when coming from off the pace to swoop late in a messy renewal of the Prix de la Foret. Inns of Court (122) looked to have made a winning move two out, only to be picked up late on, while Dutch Connection (up 5 lb to 121) ran easily his best race of the season, staying on strongly after having to wait for a gap. Hot favourite Polydream (123) can have her run ignored, tucked up with no place to go on the inside as the dash for home ensued.

Britain Saturday

Laurens (up 2 lb to 120) deserves plenty of credit after winning what looked an up-to-scratch renewal of the Sun Chariot on paper, though clearly her chief rival Wind Chimes (122) wasn’t herself. It was the tough and game winner’s fourth Group 1 of the year; she's not in the Queen Elizabeth II, though could be supplemented, and has a trip to the Breeders' Cup as a more likely alternative (won a place with her win last time). The Champions Day-bound runner-up Happily (up 6 lb to 120), tackling ground softer than good for the first time since her second Group 1 success at two, ran her best race of the year.

A photo finish was needed in 2017 to confirm Laurens as the @bet365 Fillies' Miles winner. Just one week to go until this year's @bet365 Fillies' Mile (12 October).

You can see Laurens in action on Saturday in the Group 1, Kingdom of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes! pic.twitter.com/KAbbmLUYit

— Newmarket Racecourse (@NewmarketRace) October 3, 2018

Over at Ascot, where the fields were decimated by heavy rain, Projection (remains on 117) was given a brave waiting ride in the small-field Bengough Stakes, while Laraaib (up 3 lb to 119) got the better of a protracted duel with Communique (up 2 lb to 118) in a substandard renewal of the Cumberland Lodge. Raising Sand (up from 108+ to 113), meanwhile, comfortably saw off fellow course specialist Ripp Orf (106) in the valuable Challenge Cup Handicap.