Paris in the autumn is nothing if not predictably unpredictable - no rainfall due just as the heavens open

Aidan O'Brien had just watched Bedtime Story flounder on ground already well on the soft side when he offered a fleeting reflection on conditions at Longchamp.

He was one of the few Irish or British trainers on site for a high-class card that invariably suffers on the atmospheric scale for being the Arc warm-up act, so he had an up-to-the-minute take on conditions from Christophe Soumillon. In that moment he was seeing plenty of upside.

"If it gets soft it will suit Los Angeles," O'Brien said. "But Christophe is happy enough with the ground, and he rode Minnie Hauk when he came over [to Ballydoyle] during the week. He doesn't think there is going to be any more rain and there is a drying wind, so hopefully it will dry away."