Alan Dudman Antepost Tips: Sosie the perfect Arc fit for Longchamp on Sunday

• Four races from Longchamp on Sunday priced on the Sportsbook

• Two Arc picks from Alan for this weekend

• Foret outsider at 10/111.00 worth a second look

Sosie top of the Arc betting tree

Paris in October - ah, just Paris and us with the stairs to the starlight above said Emile Zola; and the stars come together for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with Sosie the home hope for a cool £2.5million in prize money to the winner.

The hope is the ground might have some "good" in the description on Sunday although the week started with the description from across the channel as "very soft".

With the forfeit stages too, keep an eye on the runners plus the supplement stage - in which it is widely anticipated Bluestocking will be put in.

Back to the favourite and Sosie who tops the betting at 7/24.50 - and the eminent French three-year-old who won the Grand Prix De Paris earlier in the season in soft ground and the leading hope for one of the Arc's greatest trainers in Andre Fabre.

Fabre has trodden the glittered path of the Grand Prix De Paris to the Arc with Peintre Celebre (1997) and Rail Link (2006) and Sosie's campaign has been mapped out with ease as he followed up with a Prix Niel win. This racing manager malarkey is easy.

Indeed, Rail Link completed the Grand Prix, Niel and Arc treble back in the day, and in my mind, Sosie has a bit more class than the Link, and his win in the Niel was against a steady pace. He'll be even better I am sure with a big field and less emphasis on the slow, slow, quick, quick tempo.

Sosie has that marvelous Sea The Stars attribute in the sense he is relaxed and has a superb temperament - something Racing Manager Pierre-Yves Bureau mentioned after his latest Longchamp success.

One would hope Pierre-Yves' nickname is "De Change", but at least there was a reaction, as Fabre barely ever speaks.

It may sound rather boring with a 7/24.50 favourite but he ticks just about every box - and with him staying so well at a track he is 3-3 at, there really is nothing to crab him with. One hopes the draw will be kind but he's bred to be special like his father and perhaps he will be?

Al Davis, the legendary owner of the Oakland Raiders once said "just win baby" to his team. Just win Sosie.

Outsider chances with another Fabre contender

The breeding big guns are all out for this, and you won't see a Rothschild son of Mehmas anywhere, which points to Fabre's Mqse De Sevigne - a five-year-old mare who does look overpriced at 20/121.00.

To quote another Zola line: "If Paris chooses to laugh at her, let her," and some may chortle at the fact she's never raced over 1m4f.

Fabre, in a rare quote wasn't too worried about the trip following her Prix Jean Romanet win. He said: "She's a great mare, she's beautiful, and she has all you can expect from a thoroughbred. The 2,400 metres [the distance of the Arc] should be fine for her as the family has plenty of stamina."

While the Romanet was a weak renewal, the same can be said for her Group 1 Rothschild win earlier in the summer a Deauville - her second victory in that race. Once again, a couple of the fancied runners disappointed, but she is relaxing now in her races and with a 1m5f winner in her pedigree, I wouldn't be so worried about the distance even though she is in the betting too for the Prix de L'Opera at 5/16.00.

Sosie does look a far stronger stayer yes, but Mqse De Sevinge's five wins at the top level are not to be sniffed or dismissed, and it's easy to with her wins over shorter, so I hope Fabre rolls the dice rather than the L'Opera.

Bradsell in line for Abbaye honours if ground is right

The Prix de L'Abbaye is priced up on the Sportsbook too ahead of Sunday, a race I have mixed emotions and memories with as I backed Overdose, the Budapest Bullet in back in 2008. I watched the race in a betting shop in King's Cross and my friend and I thought we had the win - only for the chaotic scenes to ensure with the first race voided.

Goodness me, 16 years ago.

Bradsell is head and shoulders above every British sprinter, although that's damning with feint praise as the 5f and 6f division in the UK is poor.

Bradsell's trainer Archie Watson will be watching the ground reports from the track as his star speedster has never raced on anything beyond good to soft, and connections have already said this week he won't be out on bottomless ground.

His Flying Five win in a shade over 57 clicks was another top level win and if you hold no fears about the ground, then 7/24.50 is more than fair on the Sportsbook.

George Boughey's Believing has been twice the bridesmaid behind Bradsell at York and the Curragh, and while she has a win to her name on soft, most of her success and best efforts have been on a sound surface or quicker.

No Half Measures would like it resembling a bog as she has winning form over 6f and wants rain, so we really are playing with the forecast here.

The French sprinting hopes are non-existent, but the French are not famed for breeding speed, speed and more speed. You'd have more luck asking for ketchup in the capital.

Bucanero Fuerte is more of a flyer at 14/115.00 but for me has to prove he has trained on and he was put in his place by Bradsell last time.

Prix De La Foret for A Lilac Rolla?

With the Prix D'Lopera holding multiple double entries at the start of the week, and I really hope Fabre rolls the Arc dice with Mqse De Sevrigne, that's not a market to get involved with at this stage so the other punting option this Sunday is the Prix De La Foret.

The 7f specialists are headed by Kinross, whose record in this race reads 412, and while he hasn't enjoyed the best of seasons, he picked up another of his wins in the Park Stakes last time at Doncaster on ground described as good officially.

We all know the routine with Kinross, he needs some cut, but for me, he hasn't quite been at the peak of his powers in 2024.

One at a price is A Lilac Rolla for Paddy Twomey - a 10/111.00 shot for this, and this looks a better fit than Saturday's Sun Chariot for which she held an entry for too but isn't in the betting.

I fancied her in the Falmouth last time but she was thumped by Porta Fortuna - who I thought might have found the ground too lively. Those fears were way out, but with that over 1m, I see the drop to 7f a positive as while she got 1m well enough in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, I wasn't convinced she got home at HQ and she is by Harry Angel.

She beat Opera Singer as a juvenile and she's tough and hardy. The 10s looks a little too big in my opinion and she does have some form in testing.

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