'He has a real turn of foot' - Feed The Flame out to stake Arc claims on trials day

You would have difficulty in convincing any keen observer under the age of 30 but the Prix Niel was, throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the pre-eminent trial for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. 

Rail Link in 2006 brought to a close a sequence dating back to Carnegie in 1994 which featured ten Arc winners who prepped in the Niel (3.25) (both Bago and Peintre Celebre were beaten in their dress rehearsal). 

Feed The Flame looks by far the most likely of this year's crop to bring the race out of its current slump, having shown his aptitude for a mile and a half when surging from last to first in the Grand Prix de Paris, recording blistering fractions in the process. 

"It’s so far so good with the horse," his owner Jean-Louis Bouchard told the Racing Post. "This horse has a real turn of foot which he showed in the Grand Prix de Paris, as he did in his first two runs at Longchamp. 

"The track climbs through the first half of the race and because he can take a little while to warm up, he can sometimes get a bit detached. But when they come down the ‘toboggan’ of the false straight and into the home straight, he really knows how to accelerate. 

"If he does that again in the Niel he’ll be one of the favourites for the Arc. There’s some good horses in there and it’s a nice-looking race." 

Fantastic Moon has been rerouted here after connections thought better of risking the Deutsches Derby winner on what they felt was unsuitable ground in the Grosser Preis von Baden last Sunday. Having already run against older horses, he is rated 2lb superior to Feed The Flame by the German handicapper.

"We decided after the overnight watering from Saturday to Sunday to scratch him and go to the Prix Niel because the weather forecast for Paris was good and he loves good ground," said Liberty Racing's Lars-Wilhelm Baumgarten. "It's a very tough race with three Group 1 winners and Feed The Flame is the horse to beat. We hope we can be placed.

Fantastic Moon: German Derby winner rerouted from last weekend's Grosser Preis von Baden

"Sarah Steinberg [trainer] was very happy with him when he got back from Baden-Baden on Sunday night and he hadn't lost any weight. He did a light canter on sand on Tuesday morning. We'll see how good the German three-year-olds are."

The imposing Greenland makes his first start over a mile and a half for Aidan O'Brien and James Doyle, while Andreas Schutz also rolls the dice at the trip with Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi. 

Prix Foy: Place Du Carrousel out to test Arc stamina

For many years the Prix Foy (1.33) was the 'sick man' of trials day but Waldgeist put the race back on the honours board in 2019 and that horse's trainer, Andre Fabre, sends Place Du Carrousel here in preference to taking on her own sex in the Group 1 Prix Vermeille. 

Last year's Prix de l'Opera winner won as she liked against the boys at Deauville last month, while Fabre is fairly relaxed on whether the daughter of Lope De Vega will stay a mile and a half.

"I think this should be easier than the Vermeille with not that many runners and I just want to see how she handles the distance, though I'm not too worried about that" said Fabre.

Place Du Carrousel gets up to deny Nashwa in the 2022 Prix de l'OperaCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

On Racing Post Ratings Sammarco has yet to run within 6lb of his three-year-old form this season, and needs to step up. Much more likely to test Place Du Carrousel's stamina is Iresine, a winner of this race 12 months ago en route to Group 1 glory over 1m7½f in the Prix Royal-Oak. 

The versatile gelding then pulled off a remarkable double when winning the Prix Ganay over an extended 1m2½f. His big targets lie further ahead and it remains to be seen if Jean-Pierre Gauvin has him fully tuned up, while very fast ground would also be a negative. 

"He had a couple of minor issues over the summer but he seems just about ready for his comeback and his work in the last two weeks has been very good," said Gauvin. "He might not be at 100 per cent and obviously the heat is a concern. I hope they'll have put plenty of water on the track.

Sunday's previews:

2.55 Curragh: Highfield Princess leads British assault on Group 1 Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh  

3.25 Curragh: Speedy Ylang Ylang bidding to join an illustrious roll of honour for Ballydoyle in the Moyglare  

4.00 Curragh: 'He's exciting and has done very well since you saw him last' - next year's Guineas and Derby favourite City Of Troy returns  

4.35 Curragh: 'I can't believe the stage he's at' - Kyprios progress has Aidan O'Brien baffled as star stayer returns  

2.50 Longchamp: Can Warm Heart succeed where Yesterday and Snowfall fell short for Aidan O'Brien in Prix Vermeille?  

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