The National Times - Daryz seeks to join exclusive club of dual Arc winners

He will have 15 rivals trying to prevent him from joining a pantheon of greats, and the winner's cheque of almost 3 million euros ($3.4 million).

AFP Sport picks out three potentially eye-catching outcomes for the race first run in 1920:

Daryz set for Arc moment of truth

The courageous gamble to keep last year's Arc winner in training aged four -- when most top class colts (males) are retired at three because of the lucrative breeding fees they attract -- could pay off big time.

The feeling of his owners, Aga Khan Studs, and trainer Francis Graffard, was that he had only come of age when he edged out Minnie Hauk in the Arc and his best was yet to come.

He has added two further Group One races to his tally this season -- his only defeat when under par at Royal Ascot -- and won his Arc prep race in grand style last month.

As a result, he is a warm favourite to become the first colt to win two in a row since Irish great Alleged did so almost half a century ago.

The stars too seem to have aligned for him, with a favourable draw and little rain having fallen providing the type of ground he relishes.

For Graffard, 49, there is little doubt about the star he has on his hands.

"When he is right and things go his way with a good pace, he is probably the best I have had," he said.

Film producer Waud hopes for Arc blockbuster

Maltese Cross's owner, film producer George Waud, has splashed the cash to pay for 100 members of the Old Gold Racing syndicate to travel over on an all expenses paid trip from England to enjoy Arc weekend.

Such largesse will be more than compensated for if the William Haggas-trained Maltese Cross delivers for Waud, the chairman of the syndicate.

Maltese Cross comes with a great chance of giving Haggas his first win in the race.

He came an agonising second with Sea of Class in 2018, having won the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp on France's national holiday Bastille Day in July.

That an Englishman should win a big prize on such a day was tough enough for the hosts, but were he to deny their home hero Daryz in the Arc, Haggas, Waud and his friends may find a quick exit is advisable.

Haggas, whose late father-in-law, the legendary jockey Lester Piggott, won the Arc three times, says the race should suit his strengths.

"What I like about him is that every one of his races this year has been better than the one before," said the 66-year-old Englishman.

Father and son vie for Arc supremacy

The race throws up an intriguing clash between record breaking Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien and his son Joseph, who was once his highly successful stable jockey before turning to training.

O'Brien senior, 56, has three runners -- including Minnie Hauk bidding to go one better than last year -- as he bids to win for the third time, and first since Found prevailed in 2016.

His first choice jockey, Ryan Moore, has opted somewhat surprisingly for Irish Derby winner Benvenuto Cellini, who was hugely disappointing in his prep race at Longchamp last month.

The English jockey may have been put off the stable star Diamond Necklace, who has been drawn wide on the outside in stall 16.

"He is a tough horse and everything has gone well with him," said O'Brien.

"At the time he was beaten (at Longchamp), we felt that all the horses in the yard were going through a little infection.

"That now seems to be behind us and the horses are running much better."

Joseph, 33, has just the one runner, Thundering On, who denied his father the Epsom Oaks earlier this season.

Joseph, a two-time winning trainer of the Melbourne Cup, has yet to win the race he calls "special".

"I think she has the qualities needed to take her chance," he said.

"She has stamina as well as speed. She relaxes very well during her races and has a very good turn of foot."

A.M.Murray--TNT