IT is one of the real treats of the autumn flat calendar to sit back and savour what is typically a sublime Arc Sunday at ParisLongchamp.

Memories come flooding back around this weekend of colossal equine figures delivering in the French capital in one of the world’s great races, and three challengers from these shores have been declared for the 2024 feature (due off at 3.20 Irish time tomorrow).

Out to follow in the footsteps of Sinndar (2000), Dylan Thomas (2007), Sea The Stars (2009) and Found (2016) as Irish-trained Arc winners this century are the reigning Irish Derby hero Los Angeles (Ryan Moore/Aidan O’Brien), last-time-out Grosser Preis von Berlin scorer Al Riffa (Yutaka Take/Joseph O’Brien) and the 2023 St Leger star Continuous (Christophe Soumillon/Aidan O’Brien). A trio of contenders who could well relish conditions in Paris this weekend.

The top prices for the raiding team (as of Friday afternoon) were 6/1, 10/1 and 25/1 respectively, so there isn’t a single outstanding chance among them in the eyes of bookmakers. However, there are certainly live bullets to fire from the O’Brien family. This fixture, boosted with five other Group 1s on the card (and a separate pure-bred Arabian contest), often sees a healthy contingent of Irish challengers test their mettle at the highest level and this year is no different.

Away from the Qatar-backed feature, Aidan O’Brien also has Bedtime Story (Moore) and Exactly (Soumillon) in the Prix Marcel Boussac (12.55), while Ballydoyle’s Henri Matisse (Moore) and Camille Pissaro (Soumillon) are joined by Joseph O’Brien’s Cowardofthecounty (Dylan Browne McMonagle) in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (1.30). Those names form a pretty potent Irish challenge in the two-year-old races. It would be disappointing if at least one couldn’t click.

Aesop’s Fables was only beaten a length in third in the Prix de l’Abbaye (2.05) last year and is back for more in the same race under Ryan Moore, and Moss Tucker (Ken Condon/Billy Lee) is another string to the Irish bow, having finished fifth in the race two years ago and 11th in the latest renewal.

The Prix de l’Opera (4.05) sees the joint-biggest visiting challenge of the day, headed up by the Ballydoyle duo of Ylang Ylang (Moore) and Content (Soumillon) and bolstered by Johnny Murtagh’s Blandford Stakes scorer Hanalia (Shane Foley) and America Sonja (Browne McMonagle) for Joseph O’Brien.

There are also four Irish runners in the Prix de la Foret (4.40), including Kieran Cotter’s stable star Matilda Picotte (James Doyle) and Willie McCreery’s Prix Rothschild fourth Ocean Jewel (Billy Lee). Aidan O’Brien is represented by River Tiber (Moore), who has been absent since finishing down the field in the July Cup, and Group 3 Athasi Stakes winner Gregarina (Browne McMonagle) is a outsider on the card for Joseph O’Brien.

Given that overall strength in numbers, what sort of return should we expect from the visiting team tomorrow?

It’s worth bearing in mind that in each year since 2018, there has only ever been one or no Irish-trained winner on this Arc day card. Not since 2017, when Happily beat the boys in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and Seamie Heffernan guided Rhododendron to success in the Prix de l’Opera, have there been multiple Irish-trained winners at this fixture.

Ballydoyle hopes

In fact, it’s a slightly surprising statistic that Aidan O’Brien has managed just one winner on Arc day in the last six years, with that victory coming last year through Opera Singer in the Boussac.

Of course, it ought to be noted that he was unable to have runners in 2020 over a feed contamination issue, and he did rattle the crossbar on this card 12 months ago, when Unquestionable finished second in the Lagardere, Jackie Oh was just touched off in the Opera and the aforementioned Aesop’s Fables went close at 43/1 in the Abbaye. This card often showcases the cream of the European racing crop and there are no gimmes on the table - no matter who you are. There is quality throughout again this year.

On his Arc hopes, the Ballydoyle maestro, who has been operating at a 35% strike rate in the last fortnight, said: “We don’t think we’ve seen the best of Los Angeles yet. He’s a very big horse, he’s improving physically and there’s no doubt a mile and a half is right up his alley.

“We were very happy with Continuous when third in the trial [the Prix Foy], it didn’t suit him to make the running, but obviously it was going to be a slow pace. We think he’ll be much better in a strongly-run race and we’ve been very happy with him since.”