So You Think Confirmed For Arc Date
Aidan O’Brien announcement on
Thursday that his Australian superstar import, So You Think, will take his
chances in the Prix de l’Arc’ de Triomphe at Longchamp on Sunday 2nd
October.
So You Think's presence in the race
will be ground dependent but O’Brien confirmed that the five year old is in
the form of his life at home and came out of his last race, the Group One,
Irish Champion Stakes at the Curragh a fortnight ago in great shape. He won
that race but he failed to impress a number of pundits who thought that he
should have won a lot easier than the half length he held over filly, Snow
Fairy at the finishing post.
Others however, feel that So You
Think was running to orders in that race with the plan being to set a fast
pace over the ten furlongs leaving plenty in the tank to get another two
furlongs. This is of course something he will have to do at Longchamp in
order to get the extra two furlongs in Europes richest race which is run
over 1m 4f.
Doubts about him staying the Arc
trip do continue to persist though but there is a strong school of thought
that he will be even better at 12 furlongs, despite him being a specialist
over 10 furlongs, over which he has only lost once in eight career starts.
It should also be remembered that he finished third carrying top weight in
the 2010 Melbourne Cup, a top quality race over two miles in which he only
finished just over three lengths behind the winner, Americain, suggesting
that stamina should not be a doubt.
So You Think has had five races for
O’Brien this season, winning four of them, three at Group One level. His
only defeat came when he was beaten by Rewilding in the St James Palace
Stakes over ten furlongs at Royal Ascot in June. O’Brien placed the blame
for that defeat fairly and squarely on his own shoulders, claiming that he
had not done enough work on the horse at home and that he was undercooked
going in to the race. No such mistakes have been made since and he proved
that he was almost back to his best when winning the Group One Eclipse
Stakes in July at Sandown where he had the 2010 Arc winner, Workforce,
comfortably held in second place.
The confirmation that he would run
in the Arc had an immediate impact on the antepost market for the race with
most Bookmakers cutting his price in the
Arc betting. He is a general
5/1 chance with the favourite remaining Sarafina who's currently a 7/2
chance.
The stats are against So you Think
in the Arc de Triomphe with only three five year olds able to win the race
in the last fifty years, however, many will argue have any five year olds to
run in the Arc been as good as So You Think? The answer will be known come
the 2nd October...