Before the world richest turf race — Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Group 1) — gets underway at a newly-renovated Longchamp on Sunday, many associated events, under the partnership between Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC), and France-Galop, will commence today in Paris.
The Purebred Arabian Sales organised by Arqana will open the programme today. The sale will be for horses in training, broodmares, foals, yearlings, two-year-olds, stallions and endurance horses.
Twenty four hours later, meeting at Saint-Cloud will kick-start racing action.
Saint-Cloud will also host races for Purebred Arabians while the world’s premier global event for Arabians, the Qatar Arabian World Cup (Group 1 PA), will be run just before the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe race at Longchamp, in demonstration of Qatar’s commitment to promoting pure Arabians as part of Qatar’s heritage.
Saturday will be the first day of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe race meeting at the newly-renovated Longchamp, after the last two editions were hosted in Chantilly.
Dozens of thousands of racegoers and millions of TV viewers worldwide are expected to enjoy this global event, a very special renewal of the Arc.
Japan’s main goal
Winning the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has been a goal for Japanese horse racing community for long.
This year’s edition will be the 17th time since 1969 that a horse from Japan will take yet another shot to win the greatest race in the world.
This sporting challenge is cherished in Japan, a nation with a huge love for horseracing. A large contingent of fans from the Land of the Rising Sun is expected at Longchamp to cheer home their champion, Clincher, at the 2400m feature on Sunday.
Japanese media has provided intensive coverage of the Arc every year and this year’s renewal of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is expected to be no different, especially as they have not yet landed the coveted title despite entering many favourites and tough runners in the previous editions.
Even as Clincher went around at the training centre in Chantilly yesterday, he had a large media delegation waiting.
At a press conference held later in the day, dozens of Japanese media representatives posed their questions Clincher’s jockey Yutaka Take, who expressed his hope to win the long-awaited title for his countrymen. Clincher’s trainer Hiroshi Miyamoto was also present along with other Chantilly-based trainers.