Treve will be handed the opportunity to become the first horse to win three Prix de l’Arc de Triomphes after the Al Shaqab racing operation performed a sensational volte-face on Saturday.
Treve was set for a date with Darley stallion Dubawi after a second Arc at Longchamp in Paris last Sunday.
Following her victory in the Arc, trainer Criquette Head-Maarek suggested in her post-race press conference that there was one more run for the season left in Treve. At the same time in the winners' enclosure owner Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad and racing manager Harry Herbert said Treve's career was at an end.
Following discussions, however, between Sheikh Joaan, Head-Maarek and her father, Alec, Treve’s breeder, the four-year-old mare will be campaigned next season with a view to defend her crown in 12 months.
Treve was slated for retirement having accumulated more than Dh32 million from her six wins from nine starts across the past two seasons.
She is likely to be raced just as frugally next season, with a run in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint Cloud in late June set to be her seasonal debut.
A third run in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp in September, followed by the Arc itself is likely to be all the world will see of her.
“She has come out of the race brilliantly. She is moving great, kicking and bucking and looking really well,” Herbert said. “She is a remarkable mare, and the sheikh likes the fact that racing fans worldwide can enjoy her for another year.
“To get an unprecedented Arc treble up, this is a chance to do something that has not happened before.”
Dubawi remains very much in the plans for Treve, when she gives up racing, and should she prove no longer up to racing Al Shaqab will cut short her final season.
Treve will be transferred to the Haras Du Quesnay stud in Deauville, where she was bred, in November before moving back to Head-Maarek’s Chantilly yard in February for full training.
Al Shaqab trainer Jean-Francois Bernard holds the key to the Prix Fleur d’Avril, the French leg of the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Apprentice World Championship race staged at Tarbes in the south of France on Sunday.
Bernard saddles five of the 11 runners, including AJS Mohanad and AJS Rudainah for Sheikh Joaan’s racing operation.
The 1,500-metre contest is held under the patronage of the Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Global Arabian Horse Flat Racing Festival. Sheikh Mansour will be represented by Bibisheena and Thaaniya.
Thaaniya is a full sister to Rabah De Carrere, Sheikh Mansour’s Dubai Kahayla Classic winner in March. The mare won her opening race of the season in May, but has yet to win in four starts since. Bibisheena won her last start but both mares are improving, according to Sheikh Mansour’s racing manager in France.
“They are both progressive horses,” Marcel Bossi said. “We have to see how they fare over this distance in wet conditions, if it continues to rain. But this is a very open race and there is no clear favourite which makes it an exciting contest.”
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on twitter at @SprtNationalUAE
