La Cressonniere, who had been France’s best hope of a home victory in next Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, will miss the race. The unbeaten winner of the French Oaks was found to have a minor injury after exercise on Saturday and will be treated with anti-inflammatories which will not clear the filly’s system in time for her to take part.
“There is a problem, not a very strong problem but we had to do treatment and that means we cannot run her on Sunday,” said her trainer, Jean-Claude Rouget, who is based in Pau. “It’s not very important for the future but enough for her not to run on Sunday.
“We don’t know exactly what it is,” added Rouget, who suggested the problem may originate in the filly’s pelvis or vertebrae. But he expects her to recover in time to play a full part in the 2017 season.
La Cressonniere had been 5-1 second-favourite to give Rouget a first victory in the Arc. He immediately quashed speculation that Almanzor, who is in the same ownership, might take her place in the Chantilly contest, saying: “Almanzor will not run. He will go to Ascot.”
Even so Almanzor shortened to 15-1 for the Arc on the Betfair betting exchange. The winner of the French Derby and a hotly contested Irish Champion Stakes, he had been trading above 40-1 prior to the news about his stablemate. His Ascot target is the Champion Stakes on 15 October, for which he is 5-2 favourite.
Postponed shortened to 2-1 from 11-4 for the Arc after La Cressonniere was ruled out. The five-year-old was reported in good health by his Newmarket trainer, Roger Varian, who was pleased by his final bit of fast work on Saturday.
“He went well over nine furlongs and Andrea [Atzeni] was very happy with him,” Varian said. “He’ll do routine exercise every day and he might have a blow before the race but the bulk of his main work is done now and hopefully we’ll get a smooth run from here.
“It’s a relief to get to this stage, obviously. You can’t go into these races undercooked, so a certain amount of tough work is required and unfortunately it can be in those tough bits of work that things can go wrong or problems can be revealed.”
A final bit of work on Tuesday morning will determine whether the Derby winner, Harzand, takes part in the Arc. The colt was injured when a rival struck into him in the Irish Champion this month and his trainer, Dermot Weld, hopes to see confirmation that the horse has recovered and is fit enough to take his chance in Europe’s most prestigious Flat race.
Weld has another possible runner in Fascinating Rock, the winner of last year’s Champion Stakes at Ascot, whose target will also be determined on Tuesday. “Harzand will do a bit of work on Tuesday, as will Fascinating Rock, and we’ll make a decision after that,” the Curragh trainer said. He added that Harzand would “most likely” take part in the Arc, having appeared to make a good recovery from the incident just over a fortnight ago.
“He had a V-shaped cut in a back leg and initially we thought he’d need three stitches but we got away without it,” Weld said. “There was a lot of bruising but he’s healed well; he shows good healing, this horse. We’ve got the bruising under control and he’s back in full swing.”
Pressed as to whether the horse could be close to his peak fitness after such a preparation, Weld said: “Time reveals all. Look, it was a hold-up. We’d rather he hadn’t had it but he’s back in full swing now.”
Harzand has already shown remarkable powers of recovery, having spent the morning of the Derby with one foot in a bucket of ice, the consequence of pulling a shoe off during the journey to Epsom. He won again in the Irish Derby later in June but was having his first run since when injured in the Leopardstown race, finishing eighth of 12.
Fascinating Rock was also beaten in his reappearance race after a midsummer break, finishing strongly but too late to catch Success Days at The Curragh in August. Having missed the Irish Champion because his blood was not quite right in the last few days beforehand, he could go to the Arc or back to Ascot a fortnight later.
Weld pointed out that the five-year-old has won over the Arc’s mile and a half but conceded that the shorter distance of the Champion Stakes is a better fit for the horse. “His best trip would appear to be 10 furlongs, I think we have to accept that. But he’ll do a little bit of work on Tuesday and we’ll make a call then.” He has not decided who would ride in the event of Fascinating Rock lining up at Chantilly.
Harzand is a 10-1 shot to give the 68-year-old Weld his first win in the Arc, while Fascinating Rock is generally on offer at 25-1.
While Postponed has proved versatile as to ground, the early signs are that Harzand and Fascinating Rock may not get the cut underfoot at Chantilly that suits them best. “I’ll be surprised if they’re not racing on something close to good,” Varian said.
“It was good for Trials Day [a fortnight ago] and it’s been largely dry since. They’re due a bit of rain today and it’ll be dry thereafter, cooler temperatures but not cold.
“Of course, there have been a handful of times this year when we’ve had that kind of forecast and then the complexion has changed completely by the time the weekend comes around.”
Aidan O’Brien clarified his Arc plans, suggesting that the star filly Minding would skip the French race in favour of Champions Day at Ascot, where she has three possible targets. O’Brien expects to rely on three others in the Arc: Order Of St George, winner of the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, Highland Reel, whose year peaked with victory in the King George, and Found, who has been second in her last five races, including in the Irish Champion.
O’Brien presumably has alternative plans for Seventh Heaven, Idaho and US Army Ranger, who all feature in betting lists for the Arc.
