Longchamp Sunday

The biggest raceday of the year and the best race- the Qatar Prix de l´Arc de Triomphe over 2400 metres at 16.40 CET on Sunday is not only the world´s richest turf race with 4 million euros in prize-money, but also on ratings the highest quality race in the world. This year´s running is well up to standard and features the Aga Khan´s unbeaten filly Zarkava (Alain de Royer-Dupré/ Christophe Soumillon) as clear favourite. She was especially impressive when winning the Prix Vermeille over this CD despite losing a lot of ground at the start. This is however her first race against colts and fillies have a poor recent record here - the last to win was Urban Sea in 1993 and the last 3yo filly to score was Akiyda, also in the Aga Khan colours, in 1982. The main opposition is likely to come from the powerfiul Irish stable of Aidan O´Brien, who won the race last year with Dylan Thomas; he is expected to saddle 4 runners of whom Duke of Marmalade, winner of 5 successive Group Ones, and Soldier of Fortune are clearly the best. At the time of writing, stable jockey Johnny Murtagh has not decide which one to partner, as he is waiting for the weather - the former prefers it good to firm, and the latter soft. Soft ground (which is possible, but by no means certain) would also be to the advantage of the main German candidate, Peter Schiergen´s Kamsin, who was supplemented at a sost of 100,000 euros on Thursday. He will be ridden by young French jockey Johan Victoire, who also steered him to victory last time in the Grosser Preis von Baden. The second German runner, Pavel Vovcenko s Australian-owned It´s Gino, was a well-beaten third that day but is expected to run much better now. Two more runners with German connections are Baron Ullmann´s Getaway (André Fabre/ Olivier Peslier) and Schiaparelli (Godolphin/ Frankie Dettori), who also won the German Derby and other top races for Peter Schiergen and Stall Blankenese before being sold to his present connections. A great race is in prospect, but as long as the going remains good, Zarkava should win. The other top race is the Prix de l´Opera for fillies, in which Germany is represented by Rosenreihe (Schiergen/ Andrasch Starke) and Lady Marian (Werner Baltromei/ Dominique Boeuf), first and secod in the German Oaks. Lady Marian, who has sonce scoted in good style at Deauville, did not act well on the Düsseldorf track and Baltromei is confident that she will reverse Oaks form. Another fascinating race on the card is the Prix de l´Abbaye over 1000 metres at 14.15, in which Hungarian "wonder horse" Overdose (Andreas Suborics) puts his unbeaten record on the line. A huge field is expected, including the Group One scorers Marchand d´Or, Equiano, Borderlescott, Desert Lord and Fleeting Spirit.