Andrew Balding turns to cheekpieces for Kalpana in Arc de Triomphe

The Juddmonte-owned daughter of Study Of Man, trained by Andrew Balding, will break from stall 10 in Sunday's Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the owners' Racing Manager Barry Mahon admits she'll need to find some improvement in order to open her account for the year in such a deep race.

Speaking on Thursday's Nick Luck Daily Podcast, he explained why Balding had reached for cheekpieces in the mile and a half showpiece in Paris.

He said: "She's a year older and she'd gotten a little lazy there at home in her work going into Kempton. We thought we'd try them (cheekpieces) on her at home and see if they made a different, and Andrew felt they had a very positive effect.

"So we're going to stick with them. We obviously utilised them with Bluestocking last year, throughout the year, and they had a very good effect on her as well. Sometimes with these mares they get a little older and they're going through the motions, they just need something to change it up and spark the enthusiasm again."

Kalpana's most recent win came on testing ground in last October's Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot and Mahon feels a return to soft conditions this weekend could help her realise her true potential.

"We're hopeful that it can improve her a bit further," he said regarding the prospect of rainfall later this week. "We obviously saw in Ascot last year she had a liking for it, she's raced on everything and I think she's performed to a very, very high level on everything, but her opportunities to race on soft have been limited enough. The few times she has encountered it she has looked quite impressive so let's hope it can bring out a bit more improvement."

The four-year-old is a general 10/1 chance for Sunday's Arc despite suffering defeat in the September Stakes at Kempton in her prep race.

Mahon reflected on that runner-up effort behind the reopposing Giavellotto, saying: "I thought coming into the race, the vibe I was getting from Andrew was that she might need it as he had given her a good break after Ascot.

"As he said, her last couple of bits of work before it were a bit lazy, so I wasn't surprised. Obviously, Giavellotto is a very good horse, he's a Grade 1 winner in Hong Kong. She was coming there possibly to win the race, got a bump, then got reorganised and got another bump. At that stage then fitness kicked in and her run was done. But I thought she showed enough and we stuck to the plan."

Juddmonte struck gold in the outskirts of Paris 12 months ago courtesy of the Ralph Beckett-trained Bluestocking and Mahon is aware of the task facing Kalpana, who must raise her game to follow in that filly's footprints.

"It's hard to compare them," he said. "Bluestocking came into the Arc last year having won two Group 1s and ran very well in the Juddmonte International. This filly ran very well in the King George but she hasn't managed to win this year so that is obviously a little bit of a negative for us but they're both high-class fillies, they both try hard and we're hoping for a similar result."

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