Favorite Luxembourg gets good draw for Arc 2022
Early betting favorite Luxembourg (4-1) drew favorably into post 8 on Thursday, when a full field of 20 horses was entered for Sunday’s 101st running of the Group 1, $4.85 million Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp.
Trained by Coolmore’s Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, Luxembourg could be the first 3-year-old colt to win Europe’s richest race since Golden Horn upset two-time winner Trêve seven years ago. The two-time Group 1 winner came to France carrying the momentum of victory in last month’s Irish Champion (G1), a race that has produced seven Arc winners. O’Brien and Moore have won two each.
Alpinista (5-1), a 5-year-old Frankel mare who defeated male rivals this summer in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (G1), drew post 6. She has not raced since she won the Yorkshire Oaks (G1) on Aug. 18. Trained by Sir Mark Prescott and ridden by Luke Morris, Alpinista could become the oldest mare to win the Arc since Corrida repeated in 1937.
Last year’s 72-1 winner Torquator Tasso (7-1) will not carry enormous odds again, but he will have the burden of a poor draw. The Germany-based 5-year-old trying to become the race’s eighth repeat victor got post 18, which has produced only one winner in this race – Alleged in 1977. Trainer Marcel Weiss named six-time Arc winner Frankie Dettori to ride for the first time on Torquator Tasso, who finished second last month in the Grosser Preis von Baden (G1).
Likely pacesetter Titleholder (9-1) represents Japan’s latest hope to become the first Arc winner from beyond the shores of Europe. The 4-year-old Duramente colt, who drew post 10, has not raced since he won the prestigious Takarazuka Kinen (G1) back home on June 26. Trained by Toru Korita and ridden by Hiroshi Yamada, Titleholder has won three Grade 1 races in Japan at 1 7/8, two and 1 3/8 miles.
With rain in the forecast for a full card of races Saturday, the ParisLongchamp course is forecast to be soft on what is expected to be a breezy, rain-free Arc day Sunday at 10:05 a.m. EDT. Bettors should remember program numbers, which are based on age and sex, do not traditionally match post positions in European races.