Not backing Maltese in Sunday’s Arc will leave you Cross
ARGUABLY the showpiece of the European Flat season takes place on Sunday, in the form of the Group One Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (3.05pm).
Ground conditions tend to be testing at Longchamp at the beginning of October, as they were last year when current favourite Daryz motored home to land the prize.
However, the rain has stayed away so far this year and with just a few days to go until the contest there’s little rainfall forecast, so we could see something of a rarity in an Arc run on good ground.
Last year’s winner is the obvious class act but would be better suited to some cut in the ground. Kalpana is also of strong interest as a two-time Group One winner this season, but she blotted her copybook when travelling over for this race last year.
With those slight doubts in mind, I can leave them both at the current prices.
Instead, my eye is drawn to the horse that follows Daryz in the betting, MALTESE CROSS.
It’s possible that assumptions made about him following a battling victory in the Lingfield Derby Trial and a valiant second in the Derby itself underestimated the amount of class that this horse possesses.
He quickly bolstered those claims in the Group One Grand Prix de Paris over course and distance when overcoming substantial trouble in running to get up on the line, before following up readily under a penalty in the Great Voltigeur.
He’s got a proper turn of foot when called upon, but also possesses the staying power required in an end-to-end gallop like the Arc.
Likely conditions look right up his street; he’s been campaigned with this race in mind and the 5/1 on offer looks cracking value.
POINTERS SUNDAY
Maltese Cross 3.05pm Longchamp