Can Baaeed lay the Saumarez hoodoo and win an Arc on his first try at 1m4f?

When the impossibly young combination of 23-year-old jockey Gerald Mosse and 26-year-old trainer Nicolas Clement pulled off victory with Saumarez in the 1990 Arc, most of the coverage surrounded the three-year-old's unconventional build-up to the race – Clement was only supposed to have the horse for a few weeks in transit to the US – and his famous owners, Bruce McNall and ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

Some 32 years later, Saumarez remains the most recent horse to have won the Arc on his first try at a mile and a half, a statistic which Baaeed would seek to overcome should connections opt for Longchamp as a swansong for the world's best racehorse on October 2.

In the intervening years 25 have tried and failed, and it is perhaps a testament to the commercial imperatives of the sport that 13 of those attempts have come in the last ten editions, including three winners of the 1m2½f Prix du Jockey Club in Intello, Brametot and Study Of Man.

Freedom Cry finished second to Lammtarra in 1995, but he already had a 1m3f success at Baden-Baden under his belt that season.

Here are three of the more high-profile horses to have attempted to land the big one without first proving their stamina at the trip.

Persian King (2020)

With a record eight wins in the race, Andre Fabre has also been one of the most enthusiastic protagonists of trying to stretch the stamina of horses who have been brilliant at shorter trips.

Persian King (pale blue cap and sleeves) ran a brave third in the 2020 Arc, his only try at a mile and a halfCredit: Edward Whitaker

Persian King announced himself a serious talent in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains at three, and after picking up an injury when second to Sottsass in the Jockey Club, once again showed speed was his strong suit at four, landing the Prix d'Ispahan over nine furlongs and then landing the Prix du Moulin over a mile four weeks before the Arc.

Fabre shocked the racing world with his bold decision to run at Longchamp and under a brilliantly executed Pierre-Charles Boudot ride from the front, Persian King ran a huge race to finish third behind Sottsass and In Swoop.

Fabre also managed third with 12-furlong debutant Intello in 2013 – one of the deepest Arcs in recent memory – but was less successful with Lope De Vega, who was 11th on his first try at a mile and a half in 2010.

Free Eagle (2015)

The Arc was already on Dermot Weld's mind as he debriefed the press following Free Eagle's comeback success in the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot.

That was only the Moyglare Stud star's fifth racecourse appearance and he would make it to the track only once more before Longchamp, when coming out on the wrong end of Golden Horn's dramatic swerve in the Irish Champion Stakes, a bump which was hefty enough to ensure he finished only third.

Pat Smullen and Free Eagle (red cap, three from the right) finish sixth in the 2015 ArcCredit: Edward Whitaker

There was plenty of encouragement in Free Eagle's pedigree for a try at a mile and a half, but it was once again luck in running rather than stamina which deserted him, with the hat-trick seeking Treve leaning on him up most of the Longchamp straight.

Limpid (1998)

Having won the Grand Prix de Paris – at the time run over a mile and a quarter – Fabre and Sheikh Mohammed sent Limpid to York for the International, where he finished fifth after a torrid passage up the Knavesmire.

A son of the brilliant miler Soviet Star, Limpid was then supplemented for the Arc at a cost of 440,000 Francs (£46,000), although Fabre warned: "on breeding he is by no means guaranteed to stay the trip".

Coupled with Sea Wave and Happy Valentine and sent off at 37-10, Thierry Jarnet had the perfect sit in third turning into the straight but Limpid's suspect stamina was soon spent and he fell back through the field to finish 12th. No matter to Fabre, who secured a fifth Arc with the fast-finishing Sagamix.

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