Joseph O’Brien will try to become just the fifth Irish trainer to win the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe when he saddles Al Riffa on Sunday, although the global aspect of Europe’s greatest race is underlined by who rides the colt.
The veteran jockey Yutaka Take, Japan’s version of Piggott and Dettori combined, has an 11th try at landing the prize he covets like no other.
Al Riffa’s new Japanese ownership moved to give the 55-year-old rider that chance at the expense of O’Brien’s number one rider, Dylan Browne McMonagle, in what will be the 103rd renewal of Longchamp’s €5 million feature.
It comes 30 years after Take’s first attempt to land the Arc ended in an ignominious dressing-down. Convinced the visitor from the Far East had given his White Muzzle far too much to do, trainer Peter Chapple-Hyam colourfully advised Take he’d be better off back in Japan.
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But just as his compatriots continue to obsess about Arc success, the man who has ridden close to 5,000 winners in his homeland didn’t act on that blunt advice.
It’s 18 years since an apparent perfect scenario resulted in the legendary Deep Impact being backed into odds-on by thousands of fanatical Japanese fans on the Bois de Boulogne only for them to be left stunned as he and Take could finish only third. To rub salt in the wound, Deep Impact failed a subsequent dope test.
To their credit, Japan, and its most famous jockey, have kept coming back for more.
Shin Emperor is among the leading market players after the brother to 2020 Arc hero Sottsass ran an impressive third to Economics in last month’s Champion Stakes at Leopardstown. Take’s status, though, would surely make an Al Riffa victory almost a Japanese success by proxy.
At 31, O’Brien has already crammed in a brief but stellar riding career before racking up a series of globally significant successes as a trainer. They include both of Australia’s greatest prizes, the Melbourne Cup (twice) and the Cox Plate. Irish and English Classics are also on his CV.
However, an Arc victory with his first runner, in a race his father Aidan has already won twice, would represent a crowning glory for the Irishman too.
With John Oxx having also won it twice, Vincent O’Brien three times and Séamus McGrath’s victory with Levmoss all of 55 years ago, the Arc is a notably exclusive list of Irish success.
O’Brien snr, who pulled off an unprecedented 1-2-3 led by Found in 2016, this time relies on the Irish Derby hero Los Angeles and last year’s Leger winner Continuous.
That the latter is Japanese bred stamps the Arc’s capacity to pull various international threads together in a race that also includes the German star Fantastic Moon, a pair of British hopefuls, and a notably strong home team.
Andre Fabre, the ultimate Arc champion with a record eight victories, is triple-handed this time, topped by the long-time ante-post favourite, Sosie. He reversed French Derby form with Look De Vega in their Prix Niel warm-up three weeks ago.
Look De Vega is reportedly transformed by that effort on the back of a lengthy absence and the prospect of soft ground conditions in Paris is a plus for him.
Nevertheless, it looks a notably open Arc where both O’Briens can hold valid hopes for success.
Los Angeles is a legitimate substitute for the Breeders’ Cup-bound City Of Troy and will relish both the trip and the going. Off a fast pace, Continuous will be staying on better than most. Al Riffa’s last success in Germany came in a race with a proven pedigree of identifying Arc winners.
The reach of an Al Riffa victory would span the globe but also the generational gap between trainer and jockey.
“I rode with him as a jockey, but I never thought I would ride his horse,” Take recalled this week. “His father Aidan used to take him to the track as a kid. He was a good jockey, but he was big and heavy. But it’s great that he’s become a trainer and he’s already getting results.”
The speed of ascent in O’Brien’s training career since taking out a licence just eight years ago is underlined by how he and his father constitute the bulwark of Ireland’s challenge on Sunday. Just four non-O’Brien Irish hopefuls take their chances in the five other Group One races up for grabs.
Johnny Murtagh pitches the Blandford winner Hanalia into a notably deep Prix de l’Opera, where Ryan Moore has opted for Ylang Ylang over the Yorkshire Oaks heroine Content.
Ylang Ylang was an eye-catching fourth in Leopardstown’s Matron Stakes and should relish the step up to 10 furlongs, although Sparkling Plenty’s drop back from a mile and a half in the Vermeille looks significant too.
Aidan O’Brien will be doubly represented in the top-flight juvenile contests where some tarnished reputations could get restored.
Bedtime Story ran much too free in the Moyglare when losing her unbeaten record and goes in the Marcel Boussac. The big home hope in this is Zarigana, a regally bred daughter of the 2008 Arc heroine Zarkava, who will be ridden by the Aga Khan’s new retained rider, Mickael Barzalona.
Henri Matisse lost his own unbeaten record in the National Stakes where he looked far from straightforward. He sports a first-time visor in the Jean-Luc Lagardère where the Morny runner-up Rashabar could prove a formidable opponent.
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