RACING:ONLY ONE filly has won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the last 17 years but Snow Fairy could be the value option to bridge that gap tomorrow and put Frankie Dettori into an exclusive group of jockeys who have won Europe's greatest race on four occasions.
Just four others have managed it in the past, including Pat Eddery, Yves Saint-Martin and Freddie Head and Dettori has already proven himself a master of Longchamp’s notoriously tricky course.
Sakhee’s 2001 victory might have been a six-length rout but both Lammtara (1995) and Marienbard (2002) owed much to the 40- year-old Italian superstar’s prowess and it appears significant that Dettori has been so keen to get on Snow Fairy for this year’s renewal.
A filly that won a pair of Oaks last year, including an eight-length romp on the Curragh mud, and then carried her class to the Far East for Group One wins in both Japan and Hong Kong on firm going, possesses a versatility in terms of ground and trip that could prove invaluable tomorrow.
The first of just three starts in 2011 saw Snow Fairy finish almost ten lengths behind So You Think in the Eclipse but by her last start she had bridged that gap to just half a length in the Irish Champion Stakes while indicating a longer trip could well see her reverse placings with Aidan O’Brien’s star.
The mile and a half trip will also encourage hopes in Workforce fans that he can become the first since Alleged to win back-to-back Arcs but uncertainty about ground conditions don’t seem to be helping the English star.
As well as So You Think, Aidan O’Brien also pitches St Nicholas Abbey and Treasure Beach into the ultimate middle-distance test while last year’s unlucky third Sarafina has, like So You Think, been given an unfavourable high draw.
With Snow Fairy likely to be dropped in anyway, the draw doesn’t look to affect her too much and Dettori looks just the man to help thread her through to victory.
The prolific Banimpire will attempt to get off the Group One mark when she lines up in the Prix de l’Opera as Irish trainers aim to make their presence felt on a hugely valuable card that features seven Group One races.
Dermot Weld’s Yellow Rosebud and David Wachman’s Fire Lily represent the outstanding Maybe’s form in the Prix Marcel Boussac and Wachman also pitches in the sole two year old, Requinto, in the Prix de l’Abbaye. Johnny Murtagh rides Charles O’Brien’s Bewitched who takes on Goldikova in the Prix de la Foret.
