Favourites kept apart in Prix de l'Arc draw

The top two in Sunday's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Dalakhani and High Chaparral - have been drawn wide apart.

Favourites kept apart in Prix de l'Arc draw

The top two in Sunday's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - Dalakhani and High Chaparral - have been drawn wide apart.

French Derby winner Dalakhani, owned by the Aga Khan, has been drawn on the outside in stall 14 in the 14-runner field.

Dual Derby winner High Chaparral, trained by Aidan O'Brien, will come out of stall one on the inside.

Over the last few years, horses drawn less than 10 have tended to fare better, although Sakhee won by six lengths in 2001 when he was drawn 15 of 17.

Doyen, third favourite to give French trainer Andre Fabre a sixth Arc success, will be in stall four with English Derby winner Kris Kin in two.

Rain has eased the ground on the penetrometer from 3.6 to 4.1, indicating a very soft surface.

Among the outsiders who might benefit are Vinnie Roe, trained by Dermot Weld and three times an Irish St Leger winner.

Course clerk Gerard Grandchamp said on Friday: "The overnight rain was hardly welcome. Ideally, we would have preferred a reading along the lines of the Thursday one at this stage of the game."

Sunday's race, the 82nd in Arc history, carries winning prize money of over 1million.

Likely betting: 6-4 Dalakhani and Diyapour (coupled), 5-2 High Chaparral, Black Sam Bellamy and Fontanesi (coupled), 9-2 Doyen, 8-1 Ange Gabriel, 10-1 Kris Kin and First Charter (coupled), 12-1 Dai Jin, 16-1 Mubtaker, Vinnie Roe, 33-1 Policy Maker, 50-1 Bollin Eric.