This Side Up: Arc Only One End of the Rainbow

Trading Thoroughbreds is a precarious business. Speculators are interested in buying them when the odds are skewed in their favor. Around one in eight yearlings sold at the Goffs Orby Sale this week is said to be heading to the U.S.

There are a lot of horses in the G1 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe this weekend. The horses are mostly of the Bluegrass breed, bred in Kentucky. They are faster than the stock that dominates commercial breeding in Europe. Frankel, Adlerflug and Japanese stallions influence the field.   in contrast, European sires trade on the flimsy possibility of being in a parade ring with the new King for a juvenile sprint at Ascot. In contrast to this, the U.S. breeding still clings to the aspiration of seeing out a second turn on May 1st.

There's an imbalance between the vogue for European imports and the commercial asphyxiation of even the most eligible grass stallions tried in Kentucky. There are one or two running only at Grade II level at Churchill on Saturday that could serve the European breed far better than many of the sires cluttering up some catalogues over there. Lukas Classic looks a much better contest than the lap of honor reserved for Life Is Good in a far more storied race. Life is Good won last year's race in New York. Life's previous visits to Louisville comprise a 17-length maiden win and a Kentucky Derby blowout.