by Mike Curry

With his historic fourth consecutive Gold Cup (Eng-G1) victory in the record books, Yeats could be pointed to the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1) in October at Longchamp as a long-range goal.

Trained by Aidan O’Brien for Susan Magnier and and Diane Nagle, the eight-year-old Sadler’s Wells horse powered through the straight at Royal Ascot to win the 2 1/2-mile Gold Cup by 3 1/2 lengths. He won the Gold Cup as well as the Cartier Award as European champion stayer in 2006, ’07, and ’08.

Other possibilities for this season include an attempt at a third victory in the two-mile Goodwood Cup (Eng-G2) on July 30 at Goodwood and the 1 3/4-mile Irish Field St. Leger (Ire-G1), which he won in 2007, on September 12 at the Curragh.

"Aidan has said the horse is back cantering away and fine in himself, and his future will revolve around Goodwood, the Curragh, and the Arc weekend in Paris. It will be a mixture of these three options," Coolmore principal John Magnier told the Daily Telegraph.

Bookmakers Ladbrokes responded by offering Yeats at 20-to-1 odds for the Arc. The solid price stems from a combination of his age and the notion that he might prefer a bit more distance than the 2,400 meters (11.93 furlongs) of the Arc.

Johnny Murtagh, who guided Yeats to victory in the Gold Cup, believes he has the tools to win the Arc.

"He could win an Arc,” Murtagh told the BBC. “When he gets into that high gear he is unstoppable. He can consistently run 11 1/2-seconds per furlong, and that could win an Arc."

Yeats won his career debut at one mile at the Curragh in 2003 and won a pair of 1 1/4-mile Group 3 races at three in Ireland—the P. W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes (Ire-G3) and Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial Stakes (Ire-G3).

He has not contested a race at less than 1 5/8 miles since 2005, when he won the 1 1/2-mile Vodafone Coronation Cup (Eng-G1) at Epsom. In 2005, he also finished sixth in the 1 1/2-mile Pattison Canadian International Stakes (Can-G1) on yielding ground and ninth in the 2,400-meter Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (Fr-G1).

Murtagh said firm ground is the key for Yeats and blamed his sixth-place finish in the 1 5/8-mile Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan on April 26 in his season debut on the ground, not the distance.

"We kept saying the ground was too soft at Navan but nobody believed us and people tried to pick holes in him,” Murtagh told England’s Press Association after the Gold Cup. "He loves fast ground, he loves Royal Ascot, and he comes alive here.”

Yeats has won one of three career starts at Longchamp, and perhaps will provide the answer to whether he can win at the highest level at 1 1/2 miles in this year’s Arc.

"He'll be entered for the Arc, but there's no guarantee he'll run,” John Magnier told the Daily Telegraph. “But history tells us that really good stayers have run well in the Arc, horses such as Levmoss and Ardross." 

Levmoss won both the Gold Cup and Arc de Triomphe in 1969 and was named French Horse of the Year. A champion in England, Ireland, and France, Ardross won the Gold Cup in 1981 and ’82 and finished second in the ’82 Arc.

Mike Curry is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor