Confirmed runners for the Arc as Enable gets stall nine

Superstar mare Enable will face 11 rivals and break from stall nine in her bid to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (3.05) for a record third time at Longchamp on Sunday.

The 12-runner field is the smallest number of runners in the Arc since Dylan Thomas denied Youmzain in a similar-sized running in 2007.

There has only been one winner from stall nine in the last 55 runnings of the Arc with Urban Sea last successful from that draw in 1993.

Enable, the mount of Frankie Dettori, extended her unbeaten run to 12 races when landing the Yorkshire Oaks in August and has won ten Group 1 races for John Gosden and owner Khalid Abdullah.

She held off the late challenge of Sea Of Class by a short neck in last year's renewal and is a best price 4-5 (from 8-11) with Sky Bet to make history by securing a hat-trick in the £4.5m event, shown live on ITV and Sky Sports Racing.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained Japan, partnered by Ryan Moore, is drawn next to Enable in stall ten and boasts course-and-distance winning form courtesy of success in the Grand Prix de Paris in July. He defeated Crystal Ocean in the Juddmonte International at York when last in action in August.

6, 2, 12, 14, 3, 15, 6, 2, 8, 6

The stall from which the last ten Arc winners were drawn

Japan will be joined by stablemate Magical, who returned to winning ways in the Qipco Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown last time and will be ridden by the trainer's son Donnacha.

Wildly impressive Grosser Preis von Baden winner Ghaiyyath is drawn in the outside stall 12 for Godolphin, Charlie Appleby and William Buick, while the home challenge is headed by French Derby winner Sottsass in stall one and Waldgeist in stall three.

Fierement (stall two), Blast Onepiece (stall four) and Kiseki (stall seven) all bid to become the first Japanese-trained horse to win the race, while Hardwicke Stakes runner-up Nagano Gold (stall 11) represents Czech Republic and will be ridden by Mickael Barzalona.

Enable remains 8-11 favourite with William Hill after the draw with the firm hoping there is an upset.

Rupert Adams, spokesman for William Hill, said: "The Arc market is normally quiet until Sunday, but turnover is over double what it was at a similar stage last year and a win for Enable will be a truly terrible result for us."

Enable is the same price with Paddy Power, who pushed Ghaiyyath out to 12-1 (from 10) following his outside draw.

Paul Binfield, spokesman for Paddy Power, said: "Not too many horses win a top-class race by 14 lengths, but Ghaiyyath will have to be absolutely exceptional to win from the car park draw of 12 of 12 against the likes of Enable and young pretender Japan."

Confirmed Arc runners, riders and draw

1. French King (5) Olivier Peslier
2. Waldgeist (3) Pierre Charles Boudot
3. Ghaiyyath (12) William Buick
4. Kiseki (7) Christophe Soumillon
5. Blast Onepiece (4) Yuga Kawada
6. Fierement (2) Christophe Lemaire
7. Nagano Gold (11) Mickael Barzalona
8. Enable (9) Frankie Dettori
9. Magical (8) Donnacha O’Brien
10. Japan (10) Ryan Moore
11. Soft Light (6) Yutaka Take
12. Sottsass (1) Cristian Demuro

Threat of rain before Sunday recedes

Longchamp was officially soft on Thursday with a penetrometer reading of 3.5 but with no rain for 36 hours by Thursday evening, head of Parisian tracks Jean-Guillaume d'Orglandes was hopeful that Saturday might be run on good to soft, while the amount of rain forecast for Arc day is now less than originally expected.

"There is not much risk of rain up to Saturday while on Sunday we might get up to 4 millimetres in the morning but then it will clear up for the afternoon," said d'Orglandes. "I think we'll be running on good to soft on Saturday while I imagine it will be no worse than soft for Sunday."

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