LIVE: Clear favourite emerges for Arc; Fantastic Moon now set to run after owners baulk at €55,000 non-runner fine

Paul Binfield from Paddy Power has been in touch to say his firm is hoping Continuous does not come out top in the Arc. 

Continuous at 33-1 is the last leg of 50p each-way Lucky 15 for one punter, with earlier winners Vertical Blue at 50-1, Camille Pissarro at 20-1 and Makarova at 16-1 the other three in the multiple. It could cost Paddy Power £360,000.  

We have a clear favourite for the Arc, with Sosie into 7-2 in places and Los Angeles out to 11-2. 

Sosie's trainer Andre Fabre said: "He's a big strong horse and wasn't really fit enough in the spring. He's now coming nicely into form – but everybody improves with time." 

If Los Angeles is to give Aidan O'Brien a third Arc, he will need to succeed where a number of exalted stable stars have failed.

Found led home a one-two-three for his trainer in 2016, nine years after Dylan Thomas scraped home under Kieren Fallon. Both those galloped to glory as four-year-olds. A measure of how hard it is to bank an Arc is that O'Brien has yet to do so with a three-year-old.

Continuous, who returns to Longchamp under Christopher Soumillon, was the last to try, finishing fifth last season. Previous Ballydoyle three-year-old colts who came up short include Derby winners High Chaparral, Camelot and Ruler Of The World, while Scorpion, Fame And Glory, Kew Gardens, Japan and Luxembourg were all beaten.

O'Brien, who described stall ten for Los Angeles and 14 for Continuous as "wider than ideal", said: "All is well with both of them and they've done well in the last week or two.

"The Arc has been the plan for Los Angeles since the Irish Derby. We were very happy with his run at Leopardstown. We were hoping if he finished in the first four it would be good enough to run in the Arc, and that's what he did. He's been very good since Leopardstown and his work has been as good as we could have expected.

"Continuous ran well in the race last year and it didn't suit him having to make his own running in the Foy. He will be much better in a stronger run race."

By Lee Mottershead in Paris

Here's the latest on the remarkable situation which has developed around Fantastic Moon, who is now confirmed as a runner in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe after the prospect of a €55,000 fine persuaded the horse's owners to reverse their decision to pull him out.

Moreover, the German challenger's connections - who believe conditions are now softer than ideal for last year's Arc 11th - have been told by the stewards the horse must be allowed to run on his merits.

Explaining what has happened, France Galop's assistant director-general Henri Pouret said: "Apparently, the owner said on Twitter that Fantastic Moon would be a non-runner but he was not officially a non-runner.

"We have a procedure that the trainer should fill in a document to say the horse will be a non-runner. That was not done. 

"They asked how much it would cost for the horse to be a non-runner. We told them it would be €55,000, which is a percentage of the total-prize money. Because of the value of the Arc it is quite expensive not to run. The trainer and the owner then discussed it together and, in the end, they decided to run the horse. A reminder has also been given to them by the stewards the horse has to run on its merits."

Makarova beats Bradsell in the Prix de L'Abbaye Credit: Edward Whitaker

By Steffan Edwards, analyst

As is often the case in the Abbaye the race developed towards the inside rail. Makarova got a bit outpaced at halfway but she's always strong at the finish, and she reversed recent Flying Five form with Bradsell, this softer ground really playing in her favour. The runner-up couldn't quite make it three Group 1 wins on the bounce, but it was still a fine effort on ground softer than ideal.

Starlust would have finished closer had he not been hampered against the rail, but he wouldn't have been placed, so strongly did Believing, and to a lesser extent No Half Measures, finish off their races. The former continues to knock on the door in Group 1 company. Perhaps next year.

Having announced he was a non-runner, ITV now understand Fantastic Moon will take his chance. Apparently the announcement was made prematurely and, due to the cost involved with scrapping him from the race, he will now run.

The owner has confirmed to our reporter Scott Burton that he runs.

Understandably Rossa Ryan was not in the best spirits after Starlust was stopped in his tracks during the Abbaye. 

The rider told ITV: "The gap was there but it got slammed in my face."

The stewards are looking at the incident which I doubt will impact the winner.

Billy Loughnane partnered Believing to finish third and added: "She’s run another unbelievably tough race. She broke nice but I wasn’t going well enough early and ended up getting shuffled back through the field. She handled the soft ground but she’s definitely better on a sounder surface. She a star of a filly."

Makarova retires to the paddocks as a Group 1 winner, landing the Abbaye on her final start.

An emotional Ed Walker said: "I'm a bit choked to be honest because it's the last run of her career. It's pretty special. She got a good start today and Tom Marquand nailed it. Longchamp has been good to us and this is a big day."

1. Makarova 14-1
2. Bradsell 6-4f
3. Believing 7-2
Stewards' inquiry

John Gosden has pointed to the softening underfoot conditions at Longchamp as a contributory factor in Field Of Gold's fourth-place effort in the Prix Jean Luc Lagardere.

"He ran a solid race," said Gosden. "He was right up there and travelled well but he got a little bit caught out by the ground. He is a big, strapping horse and very much a next-year horse."

Camille Pissarro beats Rashabar in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere Credit: Edward Whitaker

By Richard Lowther, analyst

So an overdue Lagardere win for Ballydoyle but not with favourite Henri Matisse. Connections have reached the conclusion Camille Pissarro has to be ridden like this, so his slow start was not an issue, and Christophe Soumillon was just the man to deliver him with a sweeping run down the outside as several battled it out up front. 

Following Shadow Of Light in the Middle Park, the winner was another Group 1 scorer to come out of the Gimcrack. Rashabar improved once again for a stable that's just hit form while Field Of Gold could have done with settling better.  

According to ITV, Fantastic Moon will not run in the Arc

Bradsell is out to make sprinting history in the Abbaye and become the first horse to win the top five-furlong race in Britain, Ireland and France in the same season.

Victory today would make him only the fifth Nunthorpe Stakes winner in the last 40 years to go on to land the Prix de l'Abbaye six weeks later, after the top-class Lochsong (1993), Dayjur (1990), Handsome Sailor (1988) and Committed (1984).

But none of that quartet also took the Flying Five Stakes (which was first run in 1985) at the Curragh in between, so Bradsell's Group 1 hat-trick would be unprecedented.

He had the better of the draw in the Nunthorpe and the Flying Five but Hollie Doyle, who has ridden Bradsell in the last ten of his 11 career starts, said on Saturday: "I think he's just been very dominant. It will be interesting to see how he fares tomorrow but he's a bit of a star and he never does much wrong.

"He's been ultra-consistent this year. Usually with sprinters you can run a race a few times and get a different result but he's been pretty dominant." 

Camille Pissarro (Christophe Soumillon) wins the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

"We always thought the world of him and he just kept getting beat. He's a big horse and we were afraid he was a little bit weak. He's always worked very classily. He's very fast, he's always had a load of speed and we thought he was a bit weak and babyish, and that's probably what he is. It became more apparent as we went along he needed to be produced very late, but there's very few horses you can do that with as they don't have the speed he has and Christophe gave him a lovely ride."

"Henri Matisse got carved up early and it probably frightened the life out of him, which is why we put blinkers on him. He was a bit timid but he'll be fine and he'll be lovely next year. I imagine both might be left alone now until next year and then the lads will decide what they want to do."

By Tony Smurthwaite

There are various ways to place a bet on the Arc and other races at Longchamp today. 

You can take a price with a bookmaker, which is a well-trodden route for many punters in everyday betting. If you don't take a price your bet will be settled at a bookmaking industry SP. 

For Tote punters, there's a difference this year. Tote bets on the Arc meeting are being commingled with not only the French PMU but also a number of other countries, including Hong Kong, into win and place markets.

So, the Marcel Boussac winner, a less fancied but domestic runner, paid 33-1 on the French PMU (and thus the Tote) versus an industry SP of 100-1. 

There's also the option of a betting exchange SP. In the Marcel Boussac, the unfancied French second string Vertical Blue paid 130-1.

Good luck!

Aidan O'Brien describes Christophe Soumillon as "world class" and it is hard to argue after he played his cards last to win the Lagardere on Camille Pissarro.

Runner-up Rashabar lost little in defeat and trainer Brian Meehan says he will be back in the spring for the French 2,000 Guineas.  

That's five winners now in the last two days at Longchamp for O'Brien with a hat full of chances still to come today. 

1. Camille Pissarro 10-1
2. Rashabar 8-1
3. Misunderstood 11-2

Good insight from Richard Hoiles here for anyone betting on Longchamp today.

Vertical Blue (red and green) beats stable mate Zarigana (nearest) and Exactly (far side) in the Prix Marcel Boussac Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

By Lee Mottershead in Paris

Princess Zahra Aga Khan was magnanimous and smiling in defeat after seeing her family's much-vaunted favourite Zarigana beaten on the line by her Francis Graffard-trained stable companion Vertical Blue in the Prix Marcel Boussac.

"Regardless of the outcome today, she has earned her place at stud," said Princess Zahra.

"It's fine, that's racing. She is only two, that was only her third start  and we have next year to look forward to. We're not sad because she has run a blinder. I'm happy for Francis."

Longchamp racecourseCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

By Steffan Edwards, analyst

A big turn-up here, Vertical Blue likely improving the best part of a stone on her previous form. She was proven over a mile and the rain-softened ground likely suited her better than Zarikana, who travelled like the best horse in the race, and in due course will surely prove she was.

The runner-up still looked quite green when asked to pick up but she came home well, and on better ground next year we'll see a better filly. Exactly did best of the fillies who came from the Moyglare, where they all finished in a bit of a heap. She stole a march when quickening off the front turning in but couldn't make that advantage tell.