Sweet Lady 33-1 for the Arc after Vermeille success for Benoist and Graffard

Sunday: Longchamp, Prix Vermeille

While the winner of the Prix Niel is not in the Arc and the winner of the Prix Foy is ineligible as a gelding, Sweet Lady was able to confirm her likely place in the line-up, repelling allcomers to secure the day's biggest prize, the Qatar Prix Vermeille.

In doing so she denied the William Haggas-trained Lilac Road by a head, and brought Gregory Benoist a first Group 1-winning ride since Mekhtaal's Prix d'Ipshan in 2017.

Generally a 100-1 chance for the Arc on Sunday morning, Sweet Lady was cut to 33-1 by William Hill after an effort that built on her fourth-placed finish behind Alpinista in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in July.

"It has always been the idea with this filly that we'd plan around the autumn as she loves it when the ground gets easier," said trainer Francis Graffard, who was adding a second Vermeille following the victory of Bateel in 2017.

"That said, she had a very positive spring, winning the Prix Corrida and we deliberately skipped Deauville.

"She's had an ideal preparation and when I saw her in front I thought we were in good shape, and she accelerated all the way up the straight."

Despite the biggest field of the three trials and a Group 1 on the line, leisurely early fractions ensured the Vermeille was run almost three seconds slower than Simca Mille won the Prix Niel in, though Sweet Lady's final three furlongs in 34.82 seconds was smart enough on officially soft ground.

"I couldn't understand why she wasn't shorter in the betting because her form lines are good and I felt she had a real chance today," added Graffard.

"We'll discuss it but I imagine we'll run in the Arc, and if the ground gets softer she'll have a chance."

Lilac Road battled hard all the way up the straight and Tom Marquand was delighted with her effort, having won the Middleton Stakes and been third to Nashwa in the Nassau earlier in the campaign.

"She's run super again and she's knocked into a few top-class fillies and arguably a few things haven't gone our way on certain days," said Marquand.

"She's not short of pace, as she showed when winning a Group 2 at York and beating a subsequent Group 1 winner in Aristia, so it might have been that bit of stickiness in the ground that told, rather than the slow pace.

Lilac Road (left) put in another fine effort when narrowly beatenCredit: Edward Whitaker

"I was half-happy we were going so slow because I knew she'd have more pace at the finish than some of them."

Prix de Diane runner-up La Parisienne finished as well as anything after an interrupted passage up the straight and was only a short neck behind Lilac Road in third.

Connections indicated she would head for the Arc and that they would be happy to see more rain.

Tuesday came to throw down a big challenge on the outside but could not go with the first three in the final furlong, while Grand Glory failed to pick up and could manage only seventh.

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