Admire Terra Eyes History in Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
Two Horses, One Longstanding Pursuit
Admire Terra and Meisho Tabaru were given their first look at Longchamp on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, a week and a half before they contest the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The pair represent the latest Japanese-trained challenge to a race that has never been won by a horse trained outside Europe, a quest stretching back more than fifty years to Speed Symboli's debut bid in 1969.
Admire Terra is a grey colt foaled on 7 February 2021, sired by Rey de Oro out of the Heart's Cry mare Admire Miyabi, and bred in Abira, Hokkaido, by Northern Farm. He descends from Wind in Her Hair, the dam of Deep Impact, and is owned by Junko Kondo and trained by Yasuo Tomomichi at the Ritto Training Centre.
His principal wins came in the Gr.2 Meguro Kinen in 2025 and the Gr.1 Hanshin Daishoten in March 2026, the latter run in race-record time. He was also third in the 2025 Kikuka Sho, Japan's equivalent of the St Leger. His most recent start brought a ninth-placed finish in the Gr.2 Sapporo Kinen in August 2026, after which trainer Tomomichi indicated the Arc bid would proceed regardless.
Meisho Tabaru is a bay/grey horse foaled on 20 April 2021, by Gold Ship out of the French Deputy mare Meisho Tsubakuro, bred by Mishima Bokujo in Urakawa. He races in the colours of the Matsumoto family and is trained by Mamoru Ishibashi, having built his reputation over two summers at Hanshin rather than at Longchamp.
Take Chases a 12th Arc Ride
Meisho Tabaru won back-to-back runnings of the Gr.1 Takarazuka Kinen, in June 2025 and again in June 2026, becoming only the third horse in the race's history to complete the double after his own sire Gold Ship in 2013 and 2014 and Chrono Genesis in 2020 and 2021. In the 2026 edition he held off Croix du Nord by a neck, having been beaten by the same rival by a nose in the Gr.1 Osaka Hai that April.
That Takarazuka Kinen success was also the most recent Group One of Yutaka Take's career, delivered at the age of 57 years and two months, making him the oldest jockey to win a JRA Group One. Take made his Japanese riding debut in 1987 and partnered Deep Impact through the 2005 Japanese Triple Crown, a résumé that places Meisho Tabaru's Arc bid inside a much longer story about his own longevity in the saddle.
Take will arrive in France next week for his 12th ride in the Arc, a tally built across four decades of Japanese raids on Longchamp. His five prior Takarazuka Kinen victories, aboard Inari One in 1989, Mejiro McQueen in 1993, Marvelous Sunday in 1997 and Deep Impact in 2006, mark him as the rider most closely associated with the race that has repeatedly sent Japanese challengers toward Paris.
Meisho Tabaru's campaign carries a family dimension beyond the training yard. Owner Yoshitaka Matsumoto is the eldest son of Yoshio Matsumoto, who supported the sport for more than fifty years and died in August 2026, aged 87, immediately after registering his 2,000th career win as an owner.
Demuro Takes the Reins on Admire Terra
Cristian Demuro rode Admire Terra for the first time during Tuesday's session, the pairing's introduction ahead of a raceday still more than a week away. Demuro, an Italian jockey based in France since around 2013, has won the Arc twice, aboard Sottsass in 2020 and Ace Impact in 2023, and was crowned France's champion jockey in 2025. His elder brother, Mirco Demuro, rides in Japan, giving the arrangement a family thread of its own.
Japan's history in the race supplies the context against which both horses will be judged. El Condor Pasa was beaten a half-length by Montjeu in 1999, Orfevre finished second in both 2012 and 2013, the latter beaten by Treve, and Deep Impact crossed the line third in 2006 before that result was voided following a positive test. Each near-miss has fed the same pursuit that Admire Terra and Meisho Tabaru now carry forward, a five-decade sequence of near-misses that has never quite delivered the outright victory Japanese owners, breeders and trainers have long sought at Longchamp.
Neither horse has raced on European turf before, leaving the Longchamp visit as their only chance to adjust to the track ahead of the race itself. Admire Terra's below-par run in the Sapporo Kinen has not stopped his connections sending him to Paris regardless of that form, a decision that underlines the scale of the ambition behind his campaign, while Meisho Tabaru arrives as the form horse of the pair on the back of his Takarazuka Kinen double, with Take's vast experience of the Arc offering a further layer of assurance to his supporters.