No horse has followed up St Leger success by landing the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same season but Continuous could get the chance to create history in Paris on Sunday week.
The colt supplied Aidan O’Brien with a seventh Leger at the weekend and will need to be supplemented into Europe’s most valuable all-aged prize. However, he is already as low as 8-1 in betting for the Longchamp highlight.
A day after securing a 43rd English Classic in Doncaster, O’Brien said a quick turnaround for Continuous in French racing’s €5 million feature event remains “possible”.
“If he was going to the Arc he’d have to be supplemented in the middle of next week,” confirmed O’Brien, who has previously landed the Arc with Dylan Thomas (2007) and Found, who led home an unprecedented one-two-three for his Ballydoyle team in 2016.
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Completing the Leger-Arc double in the same season has proved beyond some of racing’s most famous names, including Nijinsky, who famously suffered a shock Arc defeat in 1970. Alleged, a dual-Arc winner, suffered the only defeat of his career in the 1977 Leger.
O’Brien’s 2017 Leger hero Capri beat only one home behind Enable when the Arc was run at Chantilly while Longchamp was being redeveloped.
The only horse to land both races remains Vincent O’Brien’s Ballymoss, who landed the Leger in 1957 and scooped the Arc a year later.
Continuous decisively stamped his authority on Saturday’s final Classic of the season by running out a two-and-three-quarter length winner over Frankie Dettori’s mount Arrest, with the royal hope Desert Hero in third.
“There are a lot of possibilities, and it will be down to the lads [Coolmore ownership]. The Arc is in two weeks and is a possibility, but we’ll talk to Ryan [Moore] and see what they want to do.
“He has a lot of class this horse and he does stay and he does handle soft ground. There is every chance he could. He’s a hardy horse and he could back it up in two weeks. The lads will decide that, but I would say there is a chance,” O’Brien said afterwards.
Continuous’ Classic success took O’Brien to within half a million pounds of the John & Thady Gosden team in the race for this year’s Britain’s trainer’s championship.
O’Brien has been champion in Britain on six occasions, the last in 2017, and next month’s lucrative Champions Day action at Ascot could prove pivotal in who emerges on top this time.
The Irishman has currently secured over £5.4 million in prizemoney in Britain, with the biggest single contribution coming from Auguste Rodin’s Derby success at Epsom in June.
With over €6 million in prizemoney already in the bag in Ireland this season, a 25th trainer’s championship in a row – and a 26th overall – is already assured at home.
That total could be added to at Fairyhouse on Monday where O’Brien has runners in both black type races.
Boogie Woogie faces a battle on ratings in the Group Three Denny Cordell Lavarack & Lanwades Stud Stakes, a race transferred to Fairyhouse after Saturday’s Gowran Park cancellation.
Conditions will be testing at Fairyhouse but that, along with a return to sprinting, could prove just the ticket for Edwardian in the Listed Ballyhane Blenheim Stakes.
The Ballydoyle colt was tried over seven in York’s Acomb Stakes last month on quick going and hung right for much of the race before finishing last.
Having won his maiden on soft ground over five furlongs, Monday’s assignment should prove much more suitable in a race where the 103-rated Mansa Musa sets the standard.
