BC qualifiers: 1 nation’s frustration fuels push to win Arc

The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has teased Japan. It began trolling that horse-racing nation long before anyone knew what trolling would come to mean.

El Condor Pasa. Deep Impact. Nakayama Festa. And, gulp, Orfèvre. Look them up. For 22 years, they have come to Paris and looked like winners. Except they were not.

“They’ve come very close in the past,” Oisín Murphy told the U.K. TV show At the Races. “Through no fault of their own they haven’t won it. It’s only a matter of time with the pedigrees they have. I’d prefer it was sooner rather than later.”

A native of Ireland, Murphy is the reigning two-time British riding champion. On Sunday he rides one of Japan’s latest candidates to end a generation of unrequited hope and become the first non-European winner in the 100 runnings of Europe’s richest race.

Chrono Genesis, a 5-year-old mare who was sired by 2004 Arc winner Bago, starts from post 14 in the field of 15, a historical disadvantage since 20 of the last 25 Arc winners at ParisLongchamp started in posts 1-7. It is one reason she carries 12-1 odds for the $5.8 million, 1 1/2-mile Arc (G1), a Breeders’ Cup Turf qualifier on what is forecast to be a rainy day.

Deep Bond, a 4-year-old Kizuna colt, is also there from Japan, drawing post 5. He even won the Prix Foy (G2) last month going the same 1 1/2 miles over the same layout they will use in the Arc. At 28-1, though, he is not considered to be as big a hope to rewrite racing history for his homeland as the mare that has won four Grade 1 races.

“The opposition is going to be very strong,” Chrono Genesis’s trainer Takashi Saito said. “The most important thing is I’ve prepared her to be 100 percent on that day. The rest is up to Oisín Murphy. He has to take her through the race.”

If Murphy, 26, duplicates the tactics of two previous riders, Chrono Genesis will be at the back of the pack through most of the race before her devastating turn of foot is activated for a deep-closing finish.

But can she crank herself into high gear on a rain-soaked course that goes uphill at the start, downhill through the middle and flattens for the last 550 yards?

“I am not particularly worried about it,” Saito, 39, said through a translator this week in a Zoom conference with reporters. “When they talk about Japanese horses in the Arc, the ground has something to do with it. She has adapted herself to all different grounds. She is very courageous. I’m not worried about the ground.”

That is a bold statement laid against her past performances. Chrono Genesis has a record of 15: 8-3-3 and purse earnings of $10 million that were accumulated mostly on dry turf. She did have one start on a yielding course; that was her stalking victory 19 months ago against an inferior field in the 1 3/8-mile Kyoto Kinen (G2).

With the wet weather yet to settle in on northern France early this week, there was only so much Saito could do to prepare Chrono Genesis for the sodden turf of ParisLongchamp.

“The main part of the preparation was done in Japan,” he said after watching Murphy gallop Chrono Genesis on Wednesday morning at Chantilly. “Oisín did exactly what he was asked to do, and that was not to force her to go too fast. She had a very fluid action. I’m very happy with the preparation.”

Chrono Genesis will be among elite company Sunday.

Defending Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Tarnawa (3-1), the favorite in early European betting, drew post 3. She won the 2020 Prix de l’Opéra less than an hour after Sottsass won the Arc on the same, very soft course. Of the last 33 Arc winners at ParisLongchamp, 28 also finished first their last preps beforehand.

Adayar (11-4), the second choice in stall 11, won the Epsom Derby (G1) in June and the King George (G1) in July. He comes in fresh for Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby, who also trains last month’s St. Leger (G1) winner Hurricane Lane (5-1), who got post 2.

Snowfall (6-1), in post 9, one of two horses supplemented for $139,355 each, carried 1-5 odds when she was upset and finished second for trainer Aidan O’Brien in the Prix Vermeille (G1) over the 1 1/2-mile Arc course. Her stablemate Love (25-1), last year’s top European 3-year-old filly, gets six-time Arc-winning jockey Frankie Dettori in stall 4 as she tries to bounce back from three consecutive defeats.

As deep as the Arc field appears with its nine Group 1 winners, Saito would not bite on a question about whether it would be tougher than any of the competition Chrono Genesis has seen in Japan.

“Whenever I have a horse running in a Group 1, it’s because I believe it has a chance,” he said. “My work is to get her here. That is all we can do. You also need luck, and hopefully that will be the case on Sunday.”

If Murphy were to win the race on his second try, he said, “It would be a dream come true, a dream that I am afraid to have, because it would be all too exciting. It would be hard to sleep for the rest of the week. It would mean the world.”

It might mean even more than that in Japan.

The Arc at 10:05 a.m. EDT is one of five Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series races Sunday at ParisLongchamp. The others (with Breeders’ Cup divisions) include:

8:15 a.m. Prix Marcel Boussac (Juvenile Fillies Turf). Raclette (3-2), a Frankel filly, is 2-for-2 for trainer André Fabre, including a four-length victory on soft ground two weeks ago going a mile, the same distance as this race. Agartha (4-1), by Caravaggio, is a two-time group winner for trainer Joseph O’Brien. Fleur d’Iris (5-1), by Sharmadal, won a Group 3 race for Fabre over the same course and distance as the Boussac.

8:50 a.m. Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère (Juvenile Turf). Ebro River (5-2), by Galileo, won a Group 1 sprint on yielding turf two starts ago. Ancient Rome (3-1), by War Front, has won three in a row and will be cutting back from a Group 3 mile victory at ParisLongchamp to Sunday’s seven furlongs. Accakaba (9-2), by Acclamation, is 4-for-4, his most recent victory coming in August over a soft seven furlongs in a Group 2 race at Deauville.

10:50 a.m. Prix de l’Opéra (Filly & Mare Turf). Reigning Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Audarya (3-1) was third in this 1 1/4-mile race last year but is 0-for-3 this year, most recently losing by a head bob in the Romanet (G1) in August at Deauville. Grand Glory (9-1) won that race at odds of 23-1. Sibila Spain (6-1) scored last out in a listed stakes at ParisLongchamp. Joan of Arc (9-1) was eased to finish last in her 1 1/2-mile Arc trial but may be better suited cutting back. Palmas (9-1) is 2-for-2 with a six-length victory in the German Oaks (G1).

11:25 a.m. Prix de l’Abbaye (Turf Sprint). Suesa (5-2) ran into some early traffic finishing fourth in the Nunthorpe (G1), the 3-year-old filly’s first race since she won a Group 2 race in July at Goodwood. The 2020 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Glass Slippers (9-2) is 0-for-2 in 2021 with two third-place finishes at five furlongs, the length of Sunday’s straight dash in Paris. Nunthorpe winner Winter Power (6-1) had a poor start and finished 10th in last month’s Flying Five at the Curragh. Berneuil (8-1) was a Group 3 winner over the unique Abbaye course and distance last month, when the turf was rated good. The race is run on a backstretch strip that is more than 300 yards from the grandstand.

Note that program numbers, which are based on weight, and post positions do not match in Europe.