Connections of leading Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe contender Look De Vega are expecting to see an improved performance following his shock defeat in the Prix Niel.
The son of Lope De Vega showcased his star potential with a smooth winning debut at Fontainebleau last November, an outing that would prove to be his sole appearance as a two-year-old.
Carlos and Yann Lerner's colt enhanced his Classic claims with a smooth reappearance at victory Longchamp and he looked to have the world at his feet when taking the step up to Group 1 level in his stride in the Prix du Jockey Club.
Following his commanding two-length French Derby success, connections opted for an autumn campaign and the ante-post Arc favourite was sent off a warm order to enhance his position at the top of the market in the Prix Niel.
However, after making the running for much of the contest, he failed to keep up the gallop in the latter stage of the race, eventually fading to finish third of five behind fellow Arc contender Sosie.
While connections of Look De Vega were clearly disappointed to relinquish his unbeaten record, there is no doubt they believe they have him back on his A-game for Europe's showpiece middle-distance contest in Paris on Sunday.
"After the Jockey Club the horse had a break, we gave him three weeks off and then slowly started to bring him back for the second half of the season," said co-trainer Yann Lerner.
"During his break, he put on quite a bit of weight and he had lost some of it by the time he went into the Prix Niel, but he was still quite far away from his usual weight.
"Since the Prix Niel that weight has dropped, and his last work showed that he is back to the weight that he was before."
While the prospect of Look De Vega staying a mile and a half still remains a question mark for many, Lerner has little worry about the Arc course and distance.
"I'm not afraid of the trip," he said. "We mustn't forget he had to make the running in the Prix Niel, and he didn't breath perfectly that day. This is going to be a very different race, there will be more pace, and he has that pace and I'm confident he will accelerate over the mile and a half as he has done over the mile and a quarter."
On the horse's disappointment in the Prix Neil, Lerner commented: "You have to deal with it, don't you? The important thing is that we're heading now to the Arc and in that race, the way things unfolded for him was not really ideal.
"To be in front was not ideal, but the jockey really respected him and in retrospect, he didn't have a hard race.
"In hindsight, I'm quite happy with how it went, it was like a proper work gallop, and he has shown us since then that he has improved quite a bit since that last run."
Jockey Ronan Thomas has been on board Look De Vega, who will now carry the famous silks of Al Shaqab Racing, for all of his four outings and he too is expecting a much-improved performance come Sunday.
Thomas said: "It was a prep race but we're not going to lie to ourselves, we were disappointed because we would have loved to take the horse to the Arc with an unblemished record
"The main thing is we learned a lot of things and that he has improved since that run."
