RACING: A massive Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe clash between Europe's three main Derby winners now looks on after both Grey Swallow and Blue Canari were supplemented into the field yesterday at a cost of €60,000 each.
The Epsom hero North Light continues to head the betting for Sunday's Longchamp highlight despite 21 horses remaining in the race ahead of today's final stage.
Yesterday's defection of Mubtaker and Lord Du Sud was made up for by the addition of French Derby winner Blue Canari and Grey Swallow who will bid to become just the fifth Irish-trained horse to win France's greatest race. Dermot Weld will give Grey Swallow a medical check over this morning before finally committing the Irish Derby winner to Paris where he is likely to be joined by the Aidan O'Brien trained outsider Acropolis.
The Ballydoyle entry, who has had just one run this season, looks set to make the final field for the Arc which has a 20-runner safety limit and O'Brien said yesterday: "The plan has always been to run him in the Arc and that is still the case."
Stable jockey Jamie Spencer will take the ride on Acropolis and will be busy on some of the other Group One races on Sunday. "Yesterday has been in good form since her last race and is likely to run in the Prix de l'Opera. Oratorio looks the one in the two-year-old race (Prix Jean Luc Lagadere) and Grand Reward is a possible for the Abbaye," O'Brien added.
Spencer's warm up for Paris will be a trans-Atlantic dash from New York where he will partner the Irish Derby and St Leger third Tycoon in the Grade One Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. Tycoon's opposition will include the top American turf three-year-old Kitten's Joy, who won the Secretariat Stakes and Kicken Kris who picked up the Arlington Million on the disqualification of Tycoon's stable companion, Powerscourt.
The Arc, however, dominates the weekend and as well as the three Derby winners, Ouija Board (Johnny Murtagh) will also provide a Classic influence.
A final decision on the location of Ireland's first all-weather racecourse is set for early November.
Horse Racing Ireland confirmed yesterday that a committee hearing into the three different financial packages on offer from Dundalk, Tipperary and Abbotstown will be heard later this month but a final decision will not be made until a HRI board meeting on November 8th.
"The three main points we're looking at remain the same. Commercial viability, minimised capital costs and a track that is able to stage racing at as many distances as possible," HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh said yesterday. "It's a big decision and it won't be taken lightly."
