Deep Impact, last year's Triple Crown winner who made an impressive comeback by winning the 133rd running of the Tenno-sho on April 30, will compete in the prestigious Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France in October, trainer Yasuo Ikee said Monday.
Yutaka Take waves to the crowd after riding Deep impact to victory at the spring Emperor's Cup on April 30.
Ikee said he and owner Makoto Kaneko agreed that Deep Impact will run in the Takarazuka Kinen on June 25 before entering the French Grade One race, popularly known as Arc, on Oct. 1, with star jockey Yutaka Take aboard.
The Tenno-sho win was the sixth for Take and third for Ikee. It was worth 132 million yen and took Deep Impact's earnings to nearly 900 million yen.
Deep Impact became only the sixth Triple Crown winner and first in 11 years last year when he won the Satsuki-sho, Japan Derby and Kikka-sho crowns in a partnership with Take. But the popular colt lost to Heart's Cry at the Arima Kinen on Dec. 25.
Arc is a 2,400-meter test on turf and considered one of the most prestigious in the world of horse racing.
Japanese colt El Condor Pasa, with Masayoshi Ebina on board, came in second in the French G-1 race in 1999.