Sunday Racing has announced that Japan’s Derby winner Croix du Nord will tackle this year’s G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, with a planned lead-up race in the G3 Prix du Prince d’Orange.
The Takashi Saito-trained Croix du Nord is expected to become the fourth G1 Tokyo Yushun winner to tackle the ‘Arc’ in the same year, following Kizuna (fourth, 2013), Makahiki (14th, 2016) and Do Deuce (19th, 2022).
In its announcement to the colt’s ownership group, Sunday Racing confirmed that Yuichi Kitamura will retain the ride at Longchamp. He has ridden Croix du Nord at every start to date.
Croix du Nord’s intended lead-up run in the G3 Prix du Prince d’Orange would be over 2000 metres at Longchamp on September 14.
The race, won by eventual G1 Prince Of Wales’s Stakes winner Ombudsman last year, is sometimes an Arc trial: five horses have completed the double, including Ivanjica (1976), Alleged (1978) and most recently Saumarez (1990). However, although it has been restricted to three-year-olds since 1993, it returns to an open-age event in 2025.
It is not a traditional path for the Japanese, either. The only Japanese horse ever to run in the Prix du Prince d’Orange is Sirius Symboli in 1985 and he progressed to that year’s G1 Prix Royal-Oak instead.
The French calendar has changed this year with the standard Arc trials – the G1 Prix Vermeille, the G2 Prix Foy and the G2 Prix Niel – all a week earlier than in the past, on September 7.
Croix du Nord will depart for Paris in late August. He will become Saito’s second Arc runner after Chrono Genesis finished seventh in 2021.
The Kitasan Black colt is the first Japanese-trained horse confirmed for this year’s Arc and is one of six entries for Japan in the race that has proven most elusive of all for their horses.
Other Japanese entries for the Longchamp feature include G1 Arima Kinen winner Regaleira, G1 Tenno Sho (Spring) quinella Redentor and Byzantine Dream, last year’s Arc 12th Shin Emperor and three-year-old Alohi Alii.
Shortly after announcing Croix du Nord’s intended Arc participation, Sunday Racing revealed that Regaleira would not travel to Paris.
However, another of their four-year-old fillies – G1 Victoria Mile winner Ascoli Piceno – is bound for France and will run in the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois (1600m) at Deauville on August 17. Christophe Lemaire will ride.
Redentor, owned by Carrot Club, is set to join last year’s Tokyo Yushun winner Danon Decile in the G1 Juddmonte International at York but will likely skip the Arc in favour of a Japan Cup campaign. ∎
