Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe preview: Horses with heavy ground form including Telecaster and Persian King

Bad ground for the Arc is nothing new, of course, and should hardly come as a huge shock given its position in the autumn calendar, but with long-time market leader Love very much on the drift in the betting and history-seeking Enable beaten on going officially described as Very Soft 12 months ago, it's worth highlighting the real mud-lovers in the potential field this Sunday.

Digging through the form of all 22 possible runners - plus Serpentine who is set to be supplemented in midweek - shows only five horses that have won races of any description on ground described as Heavy, with one a winner on Very Soft and only one more having scored on Soft to Heavy.

There are three Group One winners among those seven proven deep-ground performers, namely Japan, Sovereign and Persian King, but only the latter has achieved top-class success on such going, with the Aidan O'Brien-trained sons of Galileo producing their peak performances on much quicker terrain.

On top of that, Andre Fabre's four-year-old is the only one realistically able to hold a candle to dual Arc heroine Enable in terms of form and raw class.

The son of Kingman was quality at two, signing off his 2018 juvenile campaign with a neck defeat of subsequent 2000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia in a Newmarket Group Three; won the Poule d'Essai des Poulains and finished second in the Prix du Jockey Club at three; before adding two more top-class victories to his tally this season.

The most recent of which was a very high-level display when beating Pinatubo, Circus Maximus and Siskin in a particularly hot renewal of the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. That victory, admittedly achieved on Good going, took the colt's course record to a perfect 3-3.

He has stamina to prove on Sunday and has never gone beyond the extended 10-furlongs of the Jockey Club - when beaten a couple of lengths by another one of his weekend rivals in Sottsass - but there is enough in the dam's side of his pedigree to suggest he could get the trip, if not too keen as he has been occasionally in the past.

Winners of any race on ground officially described as Soft or worse...

Heavy

• Japan
• New York Girl
• Persian King
• Telecaster
• Sovereign

Very Soft

• Royal Julius

Soft to Heavy

• Degraves

Soft

• Buckhurst
• Enable
• Gold Trip
• In Swoop
• Sottsass
• Stradivarius
• Way To Paris

The Hughie Morrison-trained Telecaster looks the most interesting fellow Heavy ground winner from the next wave of horses in terms of bare form.

He has raced at Group One level only twice before and beat one rival from an aggregate of 19 across last year's Investec Derby and Coral-Eclipse.

But he's gradually rediscovered the level of form shown in beating Too Darn Hot to the 2019 Dante Stakes this time around, and appeared to revel in the conditions when bagging the second Group Two of his career in the Grand Prix de Deauville (Heavy) late last month.

Unlike Persian King, he is very much a strong stayer at this trip and is likely to be among those towards front rank providing the draw is kind enough to allow him to execute such tactics.

New York Girl, Royal Julius and Degraves are nowhere near good enough on all known evidence to play starring roles in the race, but if we dip down in to the Soft ground winners then we see a whole load of quality.

Enable may have proven vulnerable very late on in a strongly-run Arc last October but we know she handles some cut on account of her 2017 heroics at Chantilly (Soft) and gritty, neck victory over Crystal Ocean in last summer's King George at Ascot (Good to Soft).

Stradivarius was always considered to be a top-of-the-ground horse by trainer John Gosden, who would refer to his hooves getting in a "wheel-spin" on anything worse, but he has now won back-to-back Gold Cups at Ascot on Soft, which dispels the theory to some extent.

Beating Dee Ex Bee in 2019 and Nayef Road this June over two and a half miles is clearly wildly dissimilar to the dynamics of an Arc de Triomphe, but the ability to stay much further looks a respectable weapon if the weather in Paris plays out as expected.

Way To Paris is another stout stayer but the son of Champs Elysees has claimed four of his six career wins on Good ground.

Perhaps German Derby winner In Swoop or Gold Trip might be able to reverse Grand Prix de Paris (Good) form with Mogul on contrasting ground. Whether that's good enough to figure in the finish is another question entirely.

In Swoop was made to look one paced by Gold Trip, who showed a smart turn of foot, in the Prix Greffulhe at Lyon Parilly on June 6, and the latter's subsequent layoff after the Prix du Jockey Club suggests not everything was in full working order when he finished down the field behind Mishriff and co. as a largely overlooked 25/1 shot in the mid-summer Chantilly Classic.

He shaped quite well behind Mogul, looking to chase down the winner in the straight before the lack of race fitness caught up with him.

In Swoop ended up grabbing second right on the line but there was only a short-head in it so it's slightly surprising to see him a well-backed 16/1 chance and Gold Trip still 100/1 in places.