Chance Ectot and Taghrooda Antepost for the Prix L’Arc De Triomphe

This year’s Arc De Triompohe at Longchamp is a little over five weeks away and heading the market is Sea The Moon was impressive in the German Derby, beating Lucky Lion by 11 lengths.  Lucky Lion won a group one in Germany after that beating Noble Mission in to second on his favoured soft ground so is a worthy favourite for the race.

Treve hasn’t looked anywhere near as good as last year, her run against a returned to form Cirrus Des Aigles was good and could be excused as it was her first run back but she ran to a similar level next time out in the Prince of Wales Stakes finishing behind The Fugue and Magician.

Taghrooda is a more realistic price around 10/1 as she was half those odds prior to the King George, she looked impressive in that race and with the recent record of three year old fillies she is worth interest at 10/1 though could be even bigger on the PMU on the day.

There could well be three Japanese horses turning up with Just A Way, Harp Star and Gold Ship engaged.

Four of the last six winners have been fillies and when you consider how few enter the race it’s quite a statistic.  Prior to Zarkava’s win in 2008 the last filly to win the race was Urban Sea all the way back to 1993.

In the last twenty years only five victories have gone against the classic generation with the three year olds leading the way and it used to be a race dominated by the best three year old colts with Andre Fabre enjoying great success.

One horse I like at a big price from the classic generation is Ectot who was a group one winner at two and was favourite for the Poule D’Essai Des Poulains after beating Karakontie in the Prix De Fontainbleau, a trial for the French Guineas.  Karakontie then went on to win the Guineas with Ectot out injured.

Ectot hasn’t run since his trial race having picked up an injury but is back in training for a reappearance in the Prix Niel and then a crack at the Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe.  Although he hasn’t raced further than a mile his pedigree is all stamina being by Hurricane Run the 2005 Arc winner and there could be more to come over further considering his breeding and performances over a mile.  His trainer Elle Lellouche won the Arc back in 1996 with Helissio and is pointing Ectot in the same direction after a forced summer break.

Ectot (pictured above in white, purple cap beating Krakonite) was available at 85.0 on Betfair but is now trading at 34.0 but is still available at 50/1 with Bet365 which could be a great price come the Arc day.