Arc picture becomes clearer - and you can be sure the winner won't be French

It looks bleak for the host nation leading up to next month's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. After a weekend of shocks, the best French-trained prospect of keeping their signature race at home according to the bookmakers is the 25-1 chance Raabihah, a four-year-old filly who has never won a Group 1.

Two of the three Longchamp trials on Sunday were won by horses trained outside France and it has been the way of it for most of the season, with home-trained horses winning just one of the four French Classics.

The one Arc trial to stay in France was the Prix Niel won by Bubble Gift, whose big-race odds were clipped to 50-1 from 100-1. That says it all. In Bubble Gift's sole Group 1 outing he finished sixth in the Grand Prix de Paris, more than nine lengths behind Hurricane Lane.