WE have been here before. Very recently too. In 2015 the excitement surrounding Treve’s attempt to land an unprecedented third Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe was at fever pitch. Buildings in Paris were lit up at night, and the city was bedecked with flags and banners in anticipation.

Perhaps the local hype will be less evident this weekend, but the anticipation will be just as great. Eight horses have won the coveted prize twice, and Khalid Abdullah’s homebred Enable is seeking a piece of racing history. It will not be easily earned, even in the smallest field assembled for the race in recent years.

It is an interesting footnote to the history of the eight dual winners that only three of them, the mares Corrida, Treve and Enable, will have contested the race three times. The colts Ksar (1920, 1921), Motrico (1930, 1932), Tantieme (1950, 1951), Ribot (1955, 1956) and Alleged (1977, 1978) ran in and won the race just twice.

Corrida provided Marcel Boussac, who is commemorated still on Arc Sunday in Paris, with the first two of his six victories in the race as an owner, a figure matched by just one other. Khalid Abdullah won the prize with Rainbow Quest, Dancing Brave, Rail Link and Workforce before Enable came along. The success the Prince has enjoyed as an owner-breeder has been phenomenal and he would be truly deserving of setting a number of records, should Enable prevail.

As I mentioned earlier, Corrida contested the race on three occasions, finishing third the year before she went on to win it twice. Treve also finished third, in addition to her victories. The race certainly has a symmetry to its history.

Few will know of Corrida, but she does have an interesting story and has a race run in her name at Saint-Cloud. She won a total of 13 times in France, Belgium, Germany and England and is regarded as one of the top fillies of the 20th century.

Corrida was retired to her owner’s Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard in Normandy where she was bred to the champion sire Tourbillon. That mating produced the top-class colt Coaraze whose victories included the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

Sadly, Coaraze was her only offspring to survive the German occupation of France in World War II. Following the D-Day landing at Normandy, Corrida disappeared from Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard during the Battle of the Falaise Gap and no trace of her was ever found. She deserves to be celebrated though, alongside fellow females Treve and Enable.