RACING:Racing fans from both hemispheres will be hoping Aidan O'Brien's star can triumph in Paris, writes BRIAN O'CONNOR, Racing Correspondent

LANDING THE Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe may be the summit of European racing accomplishment but in some ways neither Aidan O’Brien nor Séamus Heffernan can win at Longchamp tomorrow no matter what happens.

So You Think, the New Zealand-bred horse rated the finest thoroughbred to have emerged out of Australian racing in decades, faces the ultimate test of his talent.

Sent north at the end of last year amid a maelstrom of rancour and bruised Antipodean pride – not to mention finances that valued him close on €37 million – So You Think may officially be Irish now, but sentimentally he remains as resolutely Australian as vegemite.

Five European races to date have yielded three Group One victories and a Royal Ascot defeat that was that fault of everyone and everything, apart from So You Think himself, to judge by an outraged media Down Under.

As recent rugby fortunes emphasised, Australians are rarely beaten because the opposition is better. It can be a great Aussie strength, that innate sporting chutzpah which suggests they lose through their own failings rather than anything the other bloke actually does.

History dictates they are entitled to arrogance when it comes to rugby. At the oval-ball game, Australia is after all part of the Tri-Nations establishment. But in racing terms So You Think is on a solo-run against a Bastille of European tradition tomorrow.

No non-European trained horse has ever won the Arc. In recent years, the Japanese have come close without quite bringing it off, even when their greatest ever champion, Deep Impact, tried five years ago. It has been rare for Anzac champions to try, and when they have, like So You Think, they have been sent to European trainers.

If So You Think manages to win Europe’s most valuable race, and bookmakers reckon he has a better chance than most of the others in tomorrow’s field, then he can be considered a champion in two hemispheres, a monument to the Aussie horse industry and a horse that will have truly carved out a singular place for himself in world racing history.

And if he fails it will no doubt be due to failings on the part of those Irish who spoiled the masterpiece created by the legendary Australian trainer Bart Cummings – so, a classic “no-win” for O’Brien and Heffernan.

Not that such things will be preying on either man’s mind. O’Brien has been operating under the intense pressure of being Coolmore’s principal trainer for a decade and a half now. It could have been enough to break many people but there is a steel underneath the mild exterior that has allowed O’Brien thrive.

Heffernan has been with him from the start of that Ballydoyle saga, always in a support role to Messrs Kinane, Fallon and Murtagh, but picking up umpteen top Group One prizes along the way and impressing with his reliability. Heffernan may not be the fancy but he rarely makes mistakes when it matters.

There are other positive omens for So You Think’s legions of fans Down Under. His defeat of Workforce in July’s Eclipse is an excellent piece of form. Workforce landed a rare Derby-Arc double last year and didn’t appear to have excuses at Sandown.

Workforce is back for another crack at the Arc but even allowing for that this still appears far from a vintage Arc renewal, something that can only help So You Think. There are plenty of top class horses as always, but certainly nothing exceptional a la Sea The Stars, Zarkava or Dancing Brave.

The big question mark over So You Think’s credentials could come down to the mile and a half trip. Only once before has he attempted a distance in excess of 10 furlongs and that was in last year’s Melbourne Cup, an oddity in terms of top class international competition where So You Think’s class allowed him travel best before his stamina gave out.

Those pointing to that third placing as proof that he stays could be deluding themselves. The stop-start way the famous Melbourne handicap is run is hardly the searching stamina test that top-class stayers are expected to deal with in Europe. On the flip side of that though is the likelihood of unseasonably fast ground at Longchamp.

So, it’s all to play for. Irish-Australian sporting relations have been a little strained recently. But in So You Think there remain the ingredients for an Arc winning joint-venture.

And never forget the Bastille did end up stormed!