Legendary trainer set to forge new family stable alliance after attempt to win ninth Arc

One of the world's most successful racehorse trainers is set to formalise his succession plans by entering into a training partnership.

Andre Fabre, who turns 80 in December, has been crowned champion trainer in France 30 times as well as capturing many of the world’s biggest races. In France he has won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe a record eight times and the French Derby four times, while in Britain his big race highlights include all the five Classics and nine wins at Royal Ascot. He has also trained five Breeders’ Cup winners.

Fabre continues to operate a thriving stable in France where his 93 winners in 2025 place him second in the trainers’ championship.

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On Sunday he saddles two live candidates in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Sosie, who finished fourth last year when favourite for the £4.1 million race, and Cualificar, a Godolphin-owned challenger who will be ridden by William Buick.

Sosie has added two more Group 1 victories to his record this year, then disappointed in the Eclipse Stakes and finished a half length runner-up to Japan’s Byzantine Dream in his big race warm-up. Cualificar earned his shot with success in another Arc trial, the Prix Niel.

Fabre first won the race with Trempolino in 1987 and was last successful in 2019 with Waldgeist and has been pleased with his challengers preparations.

“Because he had quite a long break after Sandown, and he is a four-year-old who is quite a heavy horse, Sosie really needed a race,” he told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast.

“But that was the case for many horses. We don’t have a reason to compare one horse with the other, Sosie ran really bad at Sandown but I was happy at Longchamp.

“Cualificar is a typical Lope De Vega, he’s quite laid back and he’s a lazy worker. For a long time I was saying he’ll be better over a mile and a half and in softer ground. It proved right in the Prix Niel.

“He’s a good three-year-old, he’s the best three-year-old we have in France at this distance. Is he good enough to beat the older horses? We’ll see on Sunday."

Fabre’s daughter Lavinia has become part of the set-up and completed her training modules this year.

She revealed to the OTI Gazette: “The plan is to form an association with my father, which should happen by the end of the year.

“It shouldn’t change much of the day to day as we’ve been working together for a few years now. It’s an amazing opportunity for me to start my training career in the best possible conditions and, hopefully, will lighten the workload for my parents.”