Arc runner trained 6,000 miles away ridden by Oisin Murphy is bookie's 'worst result'

A horse trained 6,000 miles from Paris has bookmakers on tenterhooks ahead of Sunday’s £4.1 million Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Japanese-trained Byzantine Dream rocketed into the big-race picture when winning the Prix Foy under champion jockey Oisin Murphy on Arc trials day, beating the top-class Sosie, who was fourth in last year’s Arc when favourite for Andre Fabre. He is now the 8-1 third favourite with William Hill to land Europe’s richest race and end Japan’s long wait for a breakthrough success in the showpiece.

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Japanese horses have tried for 50 years to make a breakthrough but their horses have been thwarted every time, including several near-misses.

Orfevre finished second twice in 2012 and 2013, El Condor Pasa was runner-up in 1999, Nakayama Festa second in 2010 while Deep Impact, revered as one of Japan’s greatest racehorses, was third in 2006 but subsequently disqualified after testing positive for a banned substance.

This year’s race will feature three runners from Japan with Croix Du Nord, the nation’s Derby winner and Alohi Alii also in the field.

Four-time champion jockey Murphy has yet to win the Arc but was opted to continue his association with the Tomoyasu Sakaguchi-trained Byzantime Dream which began in Saudi Arabia in February.

He said: “I was very happy with Byzantine Dream in the Prix Foy, he travelled round well and showed a nice turn of foot It was a decent trial, where I didn’t have to get serious with him, and I thought Sosie was a decent benchmark Nice ground will be important for him and I’ll be hoping for a dry week in France.”

Assessing the opposition, Murphy pointed towards another chance for Japan, as well as two dangerous fillies.

He said: “Croix Du Nord is a very good horse, the two fillies that stand out are Aventure and Minnie Hauk. Obviously Aidan’s (O’Brien) filly has done nothing wrong this year and Aventure was placed in the race last year.”

William Hill’s market is headed by Minnie Hauk on 7-2 with Aventure 9-2 from Byzantine Dream and Croix Du Nord on 8-1.

Spokesperson, Lee Phelps, said: “We cannot wait for Sunday’s showpiece from Longchamp to roll around. As always, there’s a strong ante-post shape to the Arc market and this year’s race looks wide-open. We’ve taken a good spread of business ante-post across the likes of Aventure, Kalpana, and Estrange.

“In our book it’s the Japanese raider, Byzantine Dream, who’s out on his own as our current worst result. He and Oisin Murphy will be bidding to make history on Sunday as Japan look to finally win their most coveted international prize, but we’re content to be where we are with him, as the expected drier ground may not be to his liking.

“We’ve kept Minnie Hauk on-side for this race for the last month or so, and now that it seems like she will be supplemented, she might be difficult to budge as favourite at 7-2.”