Sparan Nua And Sunly Set For Open Prix Vermeille Test
Prix Vermeille Sets Up Open Duel
Sparan Nua and Sunly arrive as the leading form picks for Sunday's Prix Vermeille at Paris Longchamp, the Gr.1 highlight of a card that offers the season's leading fillies and mares a direct route into the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on 4 October 2026. Sparan Nua, trained in Ireland by Jim Bolger, and Sunly, representing Francis-Henri Graffard's stable, head a field of thirteen that looks as open as it has in years.
The Gr.1 Prix Vermeille is run over 2,400 metres on turf at Paris Longchamp on Sunday, 6 September 2026, and is open to fillies and mares aged three and older, with a prize fund of US$698,000 (€600,000). The winner receives a wildcard into the Gr.1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on 4 October 2026, along with a waived US$140,000 (€120,000) supplementary entry fee for a horse not already entered, or a refund of that fee for one that is. First run in 1897, the Prix Vermeille is the final leg of France's fillies' Triple Crown, following the Gr.1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and the Gr.1 Prix de Diane earlier in the season.
Sparan Nua was beaten a short head by Kalpana in the Gr.1 Yorkshire Oaks last time out, the finest effort of a three-year-old campaign that has otherwise produced defeat in each of her past three starts. She does not currently hold an Arc entry, and victory on Sunday would let connections add her to the field without paying the supplementary fee.
Sunly, already qualified for the Arc, was third against older rivals in the Gr.1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and returns to her own generation and sex in search of a first Group One win. The daughter of Sottsass is one of only two runners in Sunday's field already entered for the Arc, alongside Lapotheose, runner-up in the Gr.1 German Oaks and trained by Yann Barberot.
Graffard Fields Two Arc Hopefuls
Graffard could also field Rabbit's Foot from the same stable, giving him two runners in the Prix Vermeille. Pink Panthera, who arrives with Classic form after finishing runner-up in the Gr.1 Prix de Diane, is trained by Pascal Cottier rather than Graffard. Her step up against Sparan Nua, Sunly and the rest of the field will offer a clearer picture of where she stands against the season's leading three-year-olds heading toward the Arc.
Aidan O'Brien saddles three of Sunday's runners: Beautify, eighth in the Gr.1 Prix Jean Romanet; Composing, ninth in the Gr.1 Irish Oaks; and Sugar Island, seventh in the Gr.1 Yorkshire Oaks. "Composing is in good form and we are simply hoping that she can earn some black type at Group One level," O'Brien said. "The same applies to Beautify. Sugar Island is in good form and stays the distance well. Slightly softer ground would be to her advantage."
The latest declared runners for Sunday's race also add Friendly Soul, trained by John and Thady Gosden, and Romantic Symphony, trained by Charlie Appleby, to a field that already includes Botagoz, trained by Roger Varian, and Tattycoram, trained by Ralph Beckett. Their presence reflects the value Sunday's fixture holds for connections assessing whether their fillies belong in Group One company before the Arc four weeks later.
O'Brien takes a seven-horse team to Paris Longchamp on Sunday, with the Prix Vermeille trio joined by contenders across the wider card. Gstaad bids to add the Gr.1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp to his Gr.1 Irish 2000 Guineas success, while Benvenuto Cellini, third in the Gr.1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, heads the trainer's two-strong team in the Gr.2 Prix Niel alongside Montreal. Lambourn, fourth in the same King George behind Benvenuto Cellini, remains an uncertain runner for the Gr.2 Prix Foy. "Benvenuto goes to France for the Prix Niel and he could then go for the Arc if the ground was nice," O'Brien said. "If not, he'd obviously miss there and go on to the Breeders' Cup, with Hong Kong and stuff like that in mind."
The Gr.2 Prix Niel also features Pearled Majesty for trainer Mauricio Delcher Sanchez and owner Christiane Head, the only woman to have won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe as a trainer, a feat she achieved three times, with Three Troikas in 1979 and Trêve in 2013 and 2014. Delcher Sanchez reported the colt, ninth in the Gr.1 Prix du Jockey Club before winning the Gr.2 Prix Eugène Adam, had returned in good order after a racecourse gallop at Deauville on 22 August 2026, with Christophe Soumillon booked to ride.
Diamond Necklace Skips The Vermeille
British interest is strengthened by Survie, who returns to France for trainer George Boughey after being expected to head directly to the Gr.1 Breeders' Cup Turf. The Group One winner is no stranger to the Prix Vermeille, having finished fourth behind Aventure in the 2025 renewal when trained in France.
Aventure went on to defeat Diamond Necklace in the Gr.1 Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville on 23 August 2026, a result with clear relevance to the Arc picture given O'Brien's Classic winner is among the leading confirmed contenders for October's feature. Diamond Necklace, a three-time Group One winner in 2026 (the French Guineas, the French Oaks and the Nassau Stakes), will instead be prepared for Arc weekend, after O'Brien had considered the Prix Vermeille as her next step. "We thought if we went to the Prix Vermeille over a mile and a half and she had a hard race, and we decided to go to the Arc, it could come a little bit too quick for her," O'Brien said. "She's going to have a good, long run into either race and I think she should be fitter and tighter than she was going to Deauville."
The Prix Vermeille forms part of a card that also stages the Gr.1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp and the Gr.2 Prix Niel and Gr.2 Prix Foy over the same course and distance as October's Arc. France Galop scheduled the three Arc trials four weeks before the feature race, giving the horses involved extra recovery time before the sport's leading middle-distance runners reconvene at Paris Longchamp on 4 October 2026.
Beyond its role in the Arc picture, the Prix Vermeille is also tracked as a feeder race into the Gulf season, with this generation of fillies and mares regularly followed through to the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic on Dubai World Cup night at Meydan the following March.
For Sunly and Lapotheose, both already qualified for the Arc, Sunday's Prix Vermeille serves instead as a form guide and fitness test rather than a means of securing a place in the field. Their willingness to take on Sparan Nua and Survie underlines the strength of the opposition assembled for the race.
With Sparan Nua's Yorkshire Oaks form, Sunly's Saint-Cloud experience and Survie's course-and-distance record all on show, Sunday's Prix Vermeille looks unusually open for a race of this stature. No single filly holds a clear form advantage on official figures, and the result should carry weight when connections weigh up their supplementary-entry decisions before the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on 4 October 2026.
Prix Vermeille: Post Time NA | Group One | For 3YO+ Fillies & Mares | Thoroughbred | Turf | 2,400m | Prize Fund: US$698,000 (€600,000) | Rail Position: NA | Track Condition: NA | Safety Limit: NA | Track Record: NA | Prize Breakdown: NA
Prix Vermeille: Beautify (T: Aidan O'Brien / J: NA) | Botagoz (T: Roger Varian / J: NA) | Composing (T: Aidan O'Brien / J: NA) | Friendly Soul (T: John & Thady Gosden / J: NA) | Lapotheose (T: Yann Barberot / J: NA) | Pink Panthera (T: Pascal Cottier / J: NA) | Rabbit's Foot (T: Francis-Henri Graffard / J: NA) | Romantic Symphony (T: Charlie Appleby / J: NA) | Sparan Nua (T: Jim Bolger / J: NA) | Sugar Island (T: Aidan O'Brien / J: NA) | Sunly (T: Francis-Henri Graffard / J: NA) | Survie (T: George Boughey / J: NA) | Tattycoram (T: Ralph Beckett / J: NA)