This year the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is held on the 3rd of October. The race is run at Longchamp in France and is a Group 1 race that is run over a distance of about one mile and four furlongs. This famous race is considered to be one of the most prestigious racing events in the world. In fact it is one of the most renowned international sporting events where the winners go down in history as the best horses in the world.

Commonly called the Arc, it was first run on Sunday October 3rd 1920. In 1935 the race began to receive funding from the state and in 1949 this was continued through the lottery. Unfortunately by the 1970′s the lottery had diminished and they discontinued their funding after the 1982 race.

Since then there have been numerous sponsors of this famous race and currently Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club sponsor it. The prize money currently offered is four million euros which makes it the second richest race in the world with only the Dubai World Cup ahead. The weekend of the Arc meeting now has prizes totalling around 6.7 million euros.

Last year this race was dominated by the runner Sea The Stars who had had a great season. His main competitor in the race was Fame And Glory who is coming back to race this year, currently positioned second favourite in the ante-post betting market.

Harbinger is the current favourite due to his win at the King George race earlier this year where he beat Workforce and Cape Blanco. He will be meeting both of these runners again at the Arc, showing that he certainly has the potential to win this major race and take home the prize.

The trainer to watch out for is Andre Fabre who has had seven wins in this race so far, although he hasn’t won for a few years now.

Kieron Fallon and Frankie Dettori have both ridden winners in this race, the latter having won three times and the former two.

Some trends to look out for when making your selections include :

- Horses that won their last race are proven to perform excellently.
- The Priz Niel is a very strong and well known preparatory race for the Pix de l’Arc de Triomphe and any contender that has performed well in this should be seriously considered.
- Your contenders should have won at least one Group 1 race before.
- The majority of runners have had at least four runs that year before attempting to contend in this race. Such a competitive level needs some preparation and any runner not prepared should be approached with caution.

This should give you some information that will help you to start looking at which runners you may be interested in betting in the antepost market.

I shall come back closer to the race with a more detailed assessment of the contenders in the race.