NEWS this week that Almond Eye will not contest the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has been greeted with huge disappointment. The four-year-old mare was beaten on her debut, but since then has won seven races, six of them stakes races and five times at Group 1 level.

Winner a year ago of the Japanese 1000 Guineas and Oaks, she captured the Japan Cup in November and added the Dubai Turf at Meydan last month.