Frankie Dettori's ride Golden Horn stands between Treve and her bid at Longchamp on Sunday to become the first horse to win Europe's most prestigious race the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for a third time.
For 44-year-old Dettori it would represent a sweet moment as the Italian was unceremoniously fired from riding French great Treve last year and then wrote off her chances for the Arc, only to have to eat his words as she romped home.
His public humiliation was worse as Qatari owner Sheikh Joaan al-Thani — for whom the Italian is still the retained rider — agreed to abide by trainer Criquette Head-Maarek's decision to fire him.
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Treve's form this term has been unreproachable — far better than pre-Arc last year — winning all of her three races — not a bad effort for a horse who Head-Maarek bought back for 22,000 euros ($24,700) when her family, who had bred her, put her up for sale as a yearling.
Now a five-year-old, the decision of her Qatari owner Sheikh Joaan al-Thani and Head-Maarek to change their minds over retiring her after last year's Arc has proved the correct one.
Head-Maarek, for whose family the Arc is part of their DNA with her grandfather having trained a winner, her trainer father Alec welcoming home the winner four times and brother Freddie winning the race four times as a jockey, is phlegmatic about making history.
"If she wins three Arcs, I agree that she is (the greatest racemare of all time). Of course, but records are to be beaten," she said.
Dettori, though, has a terrific chance to upset the home support in what will be the last running of the Arc before it goes on its travels as the creaking old stands of Longchamp are torn down and given a much-needed and long-awaited overhaul.
Drying ground this week has seen Treve ease from odds-on favourite to odds against and Golden Horn shorten after the Epsom Derby winner was supplemented on Thursday making his owner Anthony Oppenheimer 120,000 euros poorer.
Winner of six of his seven starts he will have the good ground he revels in, and on which he likes to hear his hooves rattle, setting up as good a chance as his English trainer John Gosden has had of at last landing the Arc.
For Dettori it would be a fourth success and represent another remarkable chapter in the charismatic Italian's career, which looked to be ending ingloriously when in December 2012 he was suspended for six months after testing positive for cocaine at a race meeting at Longchamp.
Dettori believes that Golden Horn can deliver him a win to savour, though he predicts a tough battle with Treve.
"He's (Golden Horn) very tough and hard, but also calm," he told The Guardian. "Golden Horn's up there with the very best in the world."
