PAUL COLE reluctantly ruled Riyadian out of the Forte Meridien Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe yesterday to significantly weaken England's challenge for the European middle distance championship.
The Whatcombe trainer was forced to abandon what he believed was his best ever chance of landing the contest when the colt returned from a weekend gallop "stiff and sore".
Riyadian, a 12 to 1 chance at Longchamp a week on Sunday, had deliberately not run since winning the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket in May, sidestepping the big summer events for a major crack at the Arc.
He was gradually being brought to his peak by Cole and shone in a post race exercise at Newbury on Saturday. But his despondent trainer reported yesterday: "He only cantered round but he is a bit stiff and sore and we're running out of time. It's a great shame because he is one of the few really good horse's I've ever had.
"We've come all this way until Saturday when he worked very well but he has been a bit stiff since. He Just gives me bad vibes.
"He was ridden this morning but to run in the Arc you have got to spot on and I will have to rule him out. He has always been a very difficult horse to train."
Cole's Arc challenge may now depend on Strategic Choice but last year's leading stayer has the Gran Premio del Jockey Club a week later in Italy as an alternative.
Michael Bell was the trainer to follow at Nottingham yesterday after he completed a 47 to 1 double with Shining Cloud and Girl With The Wind to take his seasonal tally to 41 winners, only one short of his 1995 total.
"My horses have hit a rich vein of form. Long may it continue," exclaimed Bell, whose two winners, both partnered by stable jockey Michael Fenton, scored by an aggregate of 12 lengths.
Attitre, who was thrown in at the deep end on her belated debut in the May Hill Stakes (after twice being withdrawn at the start) finished unplaced at Doncaster but struck winning form with a vengeance in the MSAS Cargo International Fillies' Maiden.
Making all the running under Michael Roberts, the Clive Brittain-trained two-year-old ran on strongly to beat Nightlark by one and a half lengths.
