Treve to stay in training, aim for third Arc

Treve will return in 2015 to pursue an unprecedent third Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Frank Sorge/Horsephotos.com) Trainer Criquette Head-Maarek has announced that Treve, who joined an elite group in winning her second Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe last weekend, will stay in training next year and aim for a third Arc. Connections had previously announced during the week that the four-year-old filly would be retired and bred to Dubawi next year. “Sheikh Joaan made the decision: Treve will remain in training next year,” Head-Maarek told the Jour de Galop. “The goal is to bring home a third Arc. For the moment, the filly will continue to rest at Haras du Quesnay, as she did last year. We will resume after her vacation and decide in due course on her program. I am thrilled to to keep the filly. When a filly is good at four, she’s just as good at five. With her, it was just a question of physical problems, and we have found ways to resolve them.” Harry Herbert, racing manager for the Sheikh’s Al Shaqab racing operation, said, “The Sheikh will keep Treve in training next year to try to go for a third Arc. She has come out of the race brilliantly. She is moving great, kicking and bucking and looking really well. Initially, we thought that the Arc would have drawn her career to a close, and maybe she would go to see Dubawi. But, on reflection, and following discussions with the Sheikh and Criquette, we are all keen to carry on, so long as the filly herself is absolutely fine.”

Treve will not run again this season and will spend the winter at the Head
family’s stud, Haras du Quesnay, in Normandy. The daughter of Motivator will
then head back to her Chantilly stables in February, with a view to returning to
the track early next summer.

“Her well-being is of paramount importance to all of us, everything will be
in the best interests of the filly,” Herbert said. “She will have a very limited
five-year-old year, trained specifically for the Arc. She will first go to
Quesnay in November until February 14, when she will head back into training
with Criquette. She will probably not run until June or July time, but only on
suitable ground.

“If it doesn’t work, then obviously we will draw stumps and she will have
missed one year of breeding. But she is a remarkable mare, and the Sheikh likes
the fact that racing fans worldwide can enjoy her for another year. To get an
unprecedented Arc treble up, this is a chance to do something that has not
happened before.”

Undefeated as a three-year-old including her five-length Prix de l’Arc de
Triomphe victory, Treve was second to Cirrus des Aigles in her seasonal bow in
the Prix Ganay April 27. An injury sustained when third to The Fugue in the
Prince of Wales Stakes at Royal Ascot, compounded by a subdued fourth upon her
return to the fray in the Prix Vermeille in September, saw her sent off at odds
of 11-1 for her second Arc attempt October 5. Head-Maarek had, however, been
adamant the filly was back to her best for the Arc and she duly vindicated her
trainer’s ebullience with a two-length defeat of Flintshire under Thierry
Jarnet. In doing so, Treve became the first horse since Alleged in 1978 to win
consecutive renewals of the richest flat race in Europe.

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