On Sunday, October 3 at Longchamp in Paris, get ready to watch the classiest and most important turf race in the world: the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe! The race covers a distance of a mile and a half, and offers its runners an astronomical €5,000,000 purse. The winner also earns a Win and You’re In bid to the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1).
The 2021 edition of the Arc drew a field of fifteen of the best turf horses in the world to compete for these spoils. Likely favourites include Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) winner Tarnawa and Epsom Derby (G1) winner Adayar, with St. Leger (G1) winner Hurricane Lane and Epsom Oaks (G1) winner Snowfall also well fancied in the wagering.
Betting the Arc Online
Not everyone can make it from Canada all the way to France on race day, but you can still have as much fun at home as you do at the track by wagering online. This is the place to learn all about how to bet horse racing online in Canada!
Choosing the right wagering site is the best way to make your experience as fun and profitable as possible. Get to know your full range of options for placing your bet online with our expert reviews and information, and then choose the sportsbook that offers the best features and bonuses for the way you like to bet.
Then, you can be confident that you are placing the Arc at a trusted sportsbook that is giving you the best odds and the most lucrative incentives.
2021 Arc Odds And Information
Now that you have gotten to know the best places to bet horse racing online in Canada, and made your account at one or more of the sportsbooks that offer the odds and incentives that suit your betting style, it is time to get to know the horses in the 2021 edition of the Arc.
Arc Horses
This is the official field for the 2021 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe including numbers, postpositions, trainers, and jockeys:
- Torquator Tasso – Post 12 (Marcel Weiss/Rene Piechulek)
- Deep Bond – Post 5 (Ryuji Okubo/Mickael Barzalona)
- Broome – Post 7 (Aidan O’Brien/Yutaka Take)
- Tarnawa – Post 3 (Dermot Weld/Christophe Soumillon)
- Love – Post 4 (Aidan O’Brien/Frankie Dettori)
- Raabihah – Post 15 (Jean-Claude Rouget/Cristian Demuro)
- Chrono Genesis – Post 14 (Takashi Saito/Oisin Murphy)
- Mojo Star – Post 1 (Richard Hannon/Rossa Ryan)
- Baby Rider – Post 13 (Pascal Bary/Ioritz Mendizabal)
- Adayar – Post 11 (Charles Appleby/William Buick)
- Hurricane Lane – Post 2 (Charles Appleby/James Doyle)
- Sealiway – Post 10 (Cedric Rossi/Franck Blondel)
- Alenquer – Post 8 (William Haggas/Tom Marquand)
- Bubble Gift – Post 6 (Mikel Delzangles/Gerald Mosse)
- Snowfall – Post 9 (Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore)
Keep in mind that at Longchamp, as with many European racetracks, saddlecloth numbers and post positions are not necessarily the same.
Free Arc Handicapping
First and foremost, keep in mind the ground conditions. Even several days before the Arc the footing at Longchamp was already rain-soaked, and wet weather is expected to continue toward race day. This means that the post position is less of a worry; on dry days inside posts do well at Longchamp, but over softer ground horses from any post can win.
Furthermore, it means that the winner will not only be a horse who has the right class and stamina, but also a horse who races well over wet turf.
2021 Arc Favourites
Trainer Aidan O’Brien brings three good horses from Ballydoyle: Snowfall, Love, and Broome. Though she drew the widest of the set, Snowfall is the most interesting horse in his group and the most interesting horse in the race.
This year’s Oaks winner was supplemented into the race, and there are good reasons why. Though she tasted defeat over this course and distance last month, she had three G1 wins in a row into that, including a 16-length tour de force in the Oaks. With wet conditions that day, she should be able to tap back into that brilliance over the rain-affected ground in the Arc, and her stamina should carry her through.
Godolphin has a pair of fairly well-matched horses, Hurricane Lane and the supplemented Adayar. Both are Classic winners: Hurricane Lane took the St. Leger while Adayar captured the Derby. Neither should have an issue with the distance, either.
At a slightly longer price between this Charlie Appleby pair, there is good reason to lean on Hurricane Lane as the right Godolphin horse. He already has a victory over course and distance in the Grand Prix de Paris (G1), scoring over good-to-soft ground that day. Expect Hurricane Lane to come on well from midfield.
Tarnawa, a likely favourite, stayed in training after winning the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) last year specifically to take a crack at the Arc. She won the Prix de l’Opera (G1) over the heavy ground at Longchamp last year. Though she was beaten last time in the Irish Champion (G1), she stretches back to her preferred distance for this race.
Chrono Genesis, last year’s Arima Kinen winner, is the better of the Japanese runners. Her close second to Mishriff in the Sheema Classic (G1) speaks well of her ability to travel, though she has yet to confront horses of this class over softer going and no Japanese horse has yet won the Arc.
Longshots to Watch
In a field of fifteen, the key to a profitable day can be getting the right longshot in your wagers.
Alenquer is the most interesting longer shot in the group. Though he has been defeated in his last two, he has been facing truly top-quality foes like Hurricane Lane and Mishriff. His signature victory so far came over the mile and a half over the heavy ground at Royal Ascot, proving he can rise to the challenge against very good horses over the kind of footing he’ll have in the Arc.
Raabihah also has some longshot appeal. Horses who are coming back after a losing effort in the Arc have had some success in recent runnings of the race, and she ran on well late to capture fifth behind Sottsass in 2020. She looked smart when winning over slightly longer at Deauville last time, and her form over rain-affected footing has been good.
Arc Expert Picks
Now that you know where and how to bet the race online, here are the best bets for Sunday’s 2021 Arc:
- $20 to win – #15 Snowfall
- $10 each way – #13 Alenquer
- $1 exacta box – #15 Snowfall, #11 Hurricane Lane, #13 Alenquer
- $0.50 trifecta key – #15 Snowfall with #11 Hurricane Lane, #4 Tarnawa, #13 Alenquer
- $0.50 superfecta key – #15 Snowfall with #11 Hurricane Lane, #4 Tarnawa, #13 Alenquer, #5 Raabihah
