This promises to be a great weekend.

I have always loved Arc weekend. I don’t get to Longchamp much these days, but I have been very lucky in the big race itself, going back to 1981 when I tipped 50/1 winner Gold River in my Warm Up column of the Sunday Times. Since then other good winners have come along, most notably Workforce in 2010.

I am providing a Snapshot service for this weekend, which will be available for subscribers to download on Sunday morning covering not only the Arc but the day’s other Group 1 races (see shop for further details).

Treve, who looked awesome when winning the Prix Vermeille, attempts to become the first five-year-old mare to win the race since Corrida, who won it twice in 1936 and 1937.

I have long been a massive fan of Andre Fabre, who has trained the winner seven times most recently in 2007 with Rail Link. All Fabre’s Arc winners won the Prix Niel – the race that New Bay won – apart from Peintre Celebre, who finished second in that race.

The draw is always a factor in the Arc, with only two winners in recent years drawn from a stall higher than nine. Stall one is the coffin box, for reasons unknown to me, and 16 of the last 21 Arcs have been won by three-year-olds. Only eight horses aged five or older have won the race since its inception back in 1920. The last horse aged five to win was Marienbard in 2002.

History is against Treve, mainly on the grounds of her age. There is also a suggestion in some quarters that she may have peaked in the Vermeille, although recent work in the last few days has led her trainer to believe she has never been better.

John Gosden has left Jack Hobbs in the race just in case the ground softens. The current forecast is for dry weather but there is a possibility of showers over the weekend. Golden Horn will be supplemented on Thursday at a cost of 120,000 Euros.

Mecca’s Angel, for whom showers would be very welcome, heads the list of 24 entries for the Prix de l’Abbaye. The Flying Childers winner Gutaifan is the only two-year-old old left in the line-up. Star Of Seville and Covert Love, winners of the French and Irish Oaks, are among 17 possibles for the Prix de l’Opera, with Found and Tapestry entered here as well as the Arc. Aidan O’Brien has entered Minding and Ballydoyle for the Prix Marcel Boussac.

This promises to be a great weekend.

Marten