Treve primed for historic hat-trick bid in Prix Vermeille at Longchamp

If the reports of her training are to be believed, the five-year-old mare is likely to add to her 2013 victory in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp tonight.

French jockey Thierry Jarnet will be riding Treve again having won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe race last year. Eric Feferberg / AFP

What a difference 12 months makes. Last year, before the Prix Vermeille, Treve was without a win in two runs during a campaign blighted by injury.

She lost the traditional prep race for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, too, but picked herself up off the canvas admirably to secure a second success in Europe’s championship event three weeks later.

This time around, Treve enters the race having won two from two, and if the reports of her training are to be believed, the five-year-old mare is likely to add to her 2013 victory in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp before her unprecedented bid for a hat-trick of wins in the Arc.

Treve put the finishing touches to her preparation this week in an open gallop under regular partner Thierry Jarnet in front of trainer Criquette Head-Maarek, her father and former trainer Alec Head and reportedly a crowd of more than 50 from around the world.

After the workout, the 91-year-old Head, who has trained four winners of the Arc, could not countenance defeat by another horse either in Sunday’s Group One test or on the first Sunday of next month.

“I worry about an incident, about the things that can happen in a race,” Head said.

“But about her opposition? When she’s well, there isn’t another horse who measures up to her.”

Head-Maarek will ensure there that there is sufficient pace in the 2,400-metre event by saddling a pacemaker in Dihna, although Silvestre De Sousa could well employ the same tactic of sitting behind the leader on Arabian Queen that worked so well when she dethroned Golden Horn in her victory at the International Stakes at York last month.

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Other notable runners in the nine-deep field include Godolphin’s promising Beautiful Romance, Diamondsandrubies from the Aidan O’Brien stable and Sea Calisi, who was third in the blanket finish to the Yorkshire Oaks won by Godolphin’s Pleascach.

Treve’s return overshadows what is one of those rare occasions when three winners from Dubai World Cup night are racing on the same day.

In Ireland, Brown Panther comes back from injury in the Irish St Leger, having not raced since finishing second in the Yorkshire Cup in May after his romp in the Dubai Gold Cup at Meydan in March.

Also at the Curragh is Sole Power, the Al Quoz Sprint winner who lines up in the Flying Five Stakes.

The most intriguing of all is the sumptuous clash in the Group 2 Prix Foy on the undercard in Paris between Dolniya, the Dubai Sheema Classic winner, and Postponed, who won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in July for owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid.

The last time three World Cup night winners all appeared on the same day was on the first Saturday in June, when Tamarkuz and Mubtaahij failed to augment their respective wins in the Godolphin Mile and UAE Derby while competing in the Metropolitan Handicap and Kentucky Derby at Belmont Park.

Earlier that afternoon, Dolniya attempted to tack on the Coronation Cup at Epsom without success.

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