It's the revamped Qatar Arc Trials card at Longchamp this Sunday and we have all the details plus a potential springer who could be worth backing at 50/1.
What’s new on Trials Day at Longchamp?
The revamped and freshly-branded Qatar Arc Trials day at Longchamp also has a slightly different spot in the calendar this time around, having been brought forward a week to combine with the Prix du Moulin which retains its traditional spot (since 1980) on the first Sunday in September.
The rescheduling of the Arc Trials means that connections have an extra week’s gap between their final preparatory races and the big one itself, this year staged on Sunday October 5. It also means the card no longer clashes with the Irish Champions Festival and the final day of the St Leger meeting at Doncaster.
Winners of all three Trials will receive a Wild Card that grants them an automatic starting berth in this year's Arc - fees will effectively be refunded to those who already hold an entry, while if they do not have an entry the winners will benefit from a free supplementary spot (worth €120,000).
There is often an international flavour to the three recognised rehearsals over the Arc’s course and distance (1m4f) – namely the Prix Niel, Prix Foy and Prix Vermeille – and that theme continues this weekend with runners from Britain, Ireland, Germany and Japan descending on famous venue on the outskirts of Paris.
Which is the best Trial?
That depends on your perspective, of course, but the Prix Vermeille for fillies and mares is a Group 1 race whereas the Prix Niel, which is restricted to three-year-olds only, and the Prix Foy, are Group 2s.
The Prix Vermeille has also developed a strong link with the Arc in recent seasons, none more so than last year when Bluestocking and Aventure fought out the finish to the Vermeille before also filling the same two spots in the Arc just three weeks later (as it was then).
Bluestocking became the seventh horse to win both races in the same year and the first since a three-year-old Treve did the double in 2013. Treve was fourth in the Vermeille the following year before winning the Arc again and then won the Trial in 2015 en route to finishing only fourth in Golden Horn’s Arc.
Numerically, the Niel is the best Trial as it has thrown up a dozen subsequent Arc winners in the same season although you are going back 19 years to Rail Link for the most recent to do the double. Sottsass did win both races but there was a year between those successes, the colt winning the Arc as a four-year-old having been third behind Waldgeist and Enable straight after landing the Niel en route to his first Arc attempt.
The Prix Foy had developed a reputation of being the weakest Arc Trial before 2019 winner Waldgeist gave the race a much-needed shot in the arm when going on to claim Arc glory in the same year. He’s only the third horse to do so in the race’s history and the other pair came a decade apart in 1974 (Allez France) and 1984 (Sagace).
A little history repeating in the Vermeille?
When it comes to the current Arc market, there’s no question the Prix Vermeille tops the billing as Aidan O’Brien’s Whirl is generally third-favourite at 8/1 for the Arc and she faces last year’s Vermeille/Arc runner-up Aventure, who can be backed at no bigger than 16s to avenge last year’s Arc defeat at the hands of Bluestocking.
The insinuation from Ballydoyle all season is that Minnie Hauk (like Whirl, still doesn't hold an Arc entry) is a more assured stayer than Whirl and it’s not gone unnoticed that the latter’s three Group-race victories either side of a neck second to her stablemate in the Betfred Oaks have all been achieved over 10 furlongs.
However, the Epsom run could not be classed as evidence that Whirl doesn’t stay a mile and a half – far from it in fact – and her pedigree gives a strong indication that she will prove to be at least equally as effective over the longer trip.
Aventure was receiving the 8lb weight allowance when pushing a four-year-old Bluestocking close in last year’s Vermeille and now the boot is on the other foot, but Christophe Ferland’s filly has at least proven her worth in open-age company this term by beating Survie (reopposes) in a Saint-Cloud Group 2 before following home top-class gelding Calandagan in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud when last seen in June.
Prix de Diane heroine Gezora is the other dangerous-looking three-year-old but she’s never raced over this far and could be made for the Prix de l’Opera.
No, this looks Whirl’s to lose but would she shorten dramatically unless connections opt to take old rival Minnie Hauk out of the Arc equation altogether and prioritise Ascot and the Breeders’ Cup instead? That's debateable.
Paddy Power: 4/5 Whirl, 11/4 Aventure, 7/2 Gezora, 14/1 Bedtime Story, 16 Survie, 25 Innora, 100 Ginalyah.
Niel not up to scratch
The Prix Niel looks a slightly disappointing turnout this year but perhaps that’s reflective of the overall quality among the three-year-old colts in general this summer.
Joseph O’Brien’s Tennessee Stud was third in the Derby and fourth in the Irish version at the Curragh, while the closest any of them has come to winning a Classic is Cualificar, who had the reopposing Parachutiste, Nitoi and Leffard well behind when beaten just half a length by Camille Pissarro in the Prix du Jockey Club.
Cualificar has since disappointed when third in the Prix Guillaume d’Ornano at Deauville, whereas Leffard stepped up to a mile and a half to win the Grand Prix de Paris, nutting Trinity College on the post after it appeared Aidan O’Brien’s charge had got away under Ryan Moore.
That was a smart performance from Leffard, who is considered 'babyish' and still has considerable potential, but he’s as big as 22/1 in places for the Arc and will need to take the Niel with something to spare in order to thrust himself more towards the top of the market.
O’Brien takes the covers off a couple of 'forgotten' colts in Aftermath, out of action since breaking his maiden tag last September, and Swagman, who has been on the layaway after beating Windlord and Damysus in the bet365 Classic Trial at Sandown on April 25. Both are best watched for now and don’t look Arc contenders on what we’ve seen to date.
Paddy Power: 7/4 Leffard, 2/1 Cualificar, 11/2 Tennessee Stud, 8/1 Swagman, 10 Parachutiste, 12 Bay City Roller, Nitoi, 20 Aftermath.
Foy fancied to produce the springer
As already touched upon, the Prix Foy for four-year-olds and up hasn’t been the most significant Arc Trial but this year could be different, with an above-average field assembled including established Group 1 winners Los Angeles and Sosie.
Both suffered damaging defeats on their most recent starts so respective trainers Aidan O’Brien and Andre Fabre could be feeling their way slightly ahead of another shot at the Arc – Los Angeles finished third last year, a length and a half clear of Sosie in fourth.
They are the horses to beat on form and predictably head the market, but there are some interesting rivals taking them on.
With the ground currently described as ‘very soft’, the Japanese raider Byzantine Dream has a big question mark hanging over him, whereas those conditions are going to be ideal for Almaqam. Ed Walker’s four-year-old could easily consign his York defeat at the end of July to the past on more suitable ground, but the trainer isn’t totally convinced he’s going to improve for a mile and a half - and nor am I.
Map Of Stars, however, looks to be crying out for more of a stamina test and he has plenty of soft-ground form to his name.
Wathnan Racing’s big hope has also won on a couple of occasions at Longchamp, while he looked a touch unlucky in the run when beaten a neck by Sosie here in the Prix Ganay back in April (replay below).
Sosie lands the Group One Prix Ganay on his seasonal reappearance!🇫🇷
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) April 27, 2025
The Sea The Stars colt was always doing enough to hold on from the fast-finishing Map Of Stars! pic.twitter.com/Z7Qy8fPc0X
Things haven’t quite worked out since then, the ground seemingly way too quick for Map Of Stars at Royal Ascot before he couldn’t concede the weight to Saeed bin Suroor’s smart three-year-old Tornado Alert in Germany last time out. It’s hoped that was something of a stepping-stone outing anyway as they’ve presumably been working back with an autumn campaign in mind all along.
A son of Sea The Stars, Map Of Stars’ dam Bateel won the Prix Vermeille (run at Chantilly) in 2017 and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him go some way to emulating her with his own Trials Day triumph.
He’s a general 50/1 for the Arc currently and won’t be anything like that if able to turn the tables on Sosie from the Ganay. He's only 5/1 to do just that on Sunday so the antepost odds appear big.
Paddy Power: 5/2 Sosie, 11/4 Los Angeles, 5/1 Map Of Stars, 11/2 Almaqam, Byzantine Dream, 8 Arrow Eagle, 14 Iresine, 40 Cheeky Boy, 50 Mont St Michel.
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