PARIS, France - Snowfall can erase Aidan O'Brien's bitter memories of last year and give the record-breaking Irish trainer a third win in the 100th running of France's most iconic race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Sunday.
Snowfall will be opposed by 14 rivals at Longchamp with the probability the landmark running of the Arc will, like the first in 1920, be won by a foreign raider.
This year's Epsom Oaks winner -- she won by a record 16 lengths -- will be accompanied by stablemates Frankie Dettori's mount Love (impressive winner of the 2020 Oaks) and Broome.
O'Brien will be just thankful they break from the starting stalls after last year's debacle when he had to withdraw his quartet of runners on the eve of the race due to an illegal substance being discovered in their feed.
Snowfall is also bidding for redemption following her surprise defeat in the Arc trial, the Prix Vermeille on September 12.
"Everything is going well for Snowfall," said O'Brien.
"She's beaten but we're glad we ran her in it (the Vermeille).
"It's probably better to be beaten, without everything going to plan, than to be beaten on the big occasion."
She faces a field packed with class in a race which was conceived in honour of the Allies' victorious march beneath the Parisian monument following World War I.
Charlie Appleby is double-handed with Godolphin Operation's Epsom Derby winner Adayar -- who like Snowfall was supplemented for the race on Wednesday at a cost of 120,000 euros -- and St Leger victor Hurricane Lane.
Adayar is seeking to emulate the likes of Sea Bird and Mill Reef in adding the Arc to the Derby -- though 20 others have tried and come up short since the former won in 1965.
"William Buick is our first-choice rider and he chose Adayar: it's always an encouraging sign when you go in to a race, and even more so when it's the Arc," said Appleby.
"Adayar is in the form of his life right now."
Hurricane Lane's task is one of history-making proportions as he would become the first St Leger winner to win the Arc in the same year.
The great Nijinsky even found the task beyond him, finishing second in the 1970 Arc.
Snowfall is unlikely to start favourite as that tag for the moment rests with another Irish runner, the tough as teak Tarnawa, who bids to give owner the Aga Khan his fifth winner in the race but first since Zarkava in 2008.
Christophe Soumillon will be on board Tarnawa, just as he was on Zarkava, and the Belgian ace is positively purring about adding a third Arc triumph to his laurels.
"Tarnawa is a great filly," said Soumillon.
"I was very lucky to ride her twice last year in Longchamp and won on her twice."
Chrono Genesis and Deep Bond attempt to fulfil Japan's dream of winning the racing prize they desire more than any other.
Germany, who last won it with Danedream in 2011, send Torquator Tasso.
Chrono Genesis may be the more fancied of the Japanese duo but has been drawn on the outside whilst Deep Bond has a decent starting gate and won the key Arc trial the Prix Foy.
Deep Bond's trainer Ryuji Okubo is upbeat about his chances especially with heavy rain forecast and is poud to bear the heavy expectations of the Japanese people.
"It's a thrill to challenge the best in Europe," Deep Bond's trainer Ryuji Okubo told AFP.
"It feels like I have the Japanese flag behind me. I feel as if I am representing Japan at the Olympics!"
