The 2023 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe will be beamed live into our living rooms by the ITV Racing cameras this Sunday as the world’s best middle distance turf horses do battle in the most prestigious Group 1 race in the European Pattern Book.
Jean-Claude Rouget saw his Vadeni go down by half a length to Alpinista in last year’s race and the odds-compilers give the Normandy native every chance of going one better with unbeaten favourite Ace Impact this time. The three-year-old colt is a confident selection to get the job done.
Prix de ‘Arc de Triomphe tips
Best bet: Ace Impact to win @ 3/1
Each-way play: Place Du Carrousel @ 20/1
Bet on the latest horse racing odds at Betzone
Stamina-rich pedigree suggested Impact will Ace his Arc assignment
Jean-Claude Rouget won his first Arc with Sotsass in 2020 and was only just denied a second last year when Prix du Jockey Club winner Vadeni narrowly failed to reel in Alpinista on heavy ground.
Like Vadeni, Ace Impact took out the race UK punters will refer to as the ‘French Derby’ earlier this season. Since then, the colt has added a fifth successive win to his unblemished CV.
In the last five runnings of the Arc only two horses drawn in a double-figure stall have made the medal positions, so Rouget’s colt is drawn handily in eight. As a three-year-old he’ll also benefit from a weight advantage, carrying 6lbs less than the older males and 3lbs less than older females.
On form he has yet to beat an undeniably top-draw Group 1 rival, but the unbeaten upstart has done nothing wrong. Bettors looking to get him beaten will surely be drawn to the fact that he’s yet to race over further than 1m2f.
Reassuringly, his sire Cracksman was a multiple Group 1 winner over the 1m4f Arc trip, while his dam’s sire Anabaa Blue won the French Derby back when it was still contested over 1m4f.
With the potential that better is still to come, up another 2f in distance, racing for a trainer who knows how to win the Arc and came within a whisker of the Prix-du-Jockey-Club-Arc-double 12 months ago, 3/1 looks a very fair price.
Best bet: Ace Impact to win @ 3/1
Market looks to have missed master-trainer’s sole representative
Andre Fabre is one of the first names you’d usually look for when assessing the chances of the home team at Longchamp but this year the legendary French trainer lacks a big-name Arc contender.
However, given his pedigree (three winners and 14 placed horses from 36 runners over the past 20 editions) it’s hard not to be drawn to be drawn to his Place Du Carrousel – especially given her odds of 20/1.
The four-year-old filly beat the excellent Nashwa over the Arc course and distance in last year’s filles and mares Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at this meeting. More recently she showed she’s coming to the boil again when landing the Group 2 Prix Foy on good-to-soft on Trials Day.
In receipt of 3lbs from the older colts, she’ll have a nice little weight concession to assist her in her endeavours and is fancied to outrun her chunky odds.
Each-way play: Place Du Carrousel @ 20/1
