'We're good at breeding stayers, we're not good at breeding a July Cup winner'

A decade on from Danedream's breakthrough success in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, another Arc winner bred and trained in Germany travels to Ascot with designs on victory.

Torquator Tasso's presence in Saturday's Group 1 contest, the midsummer jewel in British racing's crown, and his status as the reigning Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner are all the more remarkable when his origins are taken into account.

Germany produces approximately 850 foals each year and four-fifths of them are by breeders with just one or two mares. Last year's Arc winner represents the beating heart of German bloodstock. His breeder Paul Vandeberg has just one mare, Torquator Tasso's dam Tijuana, and his late sire, the 2007 German Derby winner Adlerflug, was from a branch of one of Germany's most influential families.