Murtagh sweet on Marmalade capping great season with success in Arc

“IT’S A huge race on the European calendar. Everybody comes together — colts, fillies, England, Ireland, France, Germany and even Japan has got in on the act now.

The atmosphere over there is second to none and, with the prizemoney being upped to the second largest pot in the world, it just adds to the thrill of the whole thing.”

That’s how jockey Johnny Murtagh describes the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and, on the first Sunday in October each year, in the spiritual home of soft ground, the best of the season’s middle distance performers converge on Longchamp for the race which invariably crowns the champion of the European Racing scene.