A season already paved with gold could turn into something even more precious for Charlie Appleby on Sunday.

The Godolphin trainer has won the Derby, Irish Derby, King George, Grand Prix de Paris and St Leger in a spectacular 2021, with many other big prizes along the way, both at home and abroad.

It is his two star three-year-olds – both sons of the mighty Frankel – that promise to take matters to another level this weekend, as Adayar and Hurricane Lane line up in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Derby and King George hero Adayar is the choice of stable jockey William Buick, with James Doyle the recipient of what could be a dream ‘spare’ aboard Hurricane Lane.

The significance of the race is not lost on the Moulton Paddocks handler – even more so as the 100th running of the Paris spectacular.

“This Arc, with it being the 100th running, that in itself is magical to be part of – and if we can get a result in it that’s up there with the Derbys,” said Appleby.

“Once you’ve won those Classics and you’re lucky enough to have a horse to compete in the Arc, I can’t wait for the weekend – and if we get the result it will be fantastic

“To have two three-year-old colts going into it with the profiles they have – two very different profiles to a degree. Adayar is an an impressive Derby winner and has gone on to be the King George winner, the first time that has been done in 20 years.

“He goes into the Arc on the back of that, and then we have the horse that could really mix it up in respect to creating history in Hurricane Lane.

“We’ve seen a horse be beaten in the St Leger and go on to win the Arc, but to win the St Leger and go on to win the Arc hasn’t been done.”

Buick’s decision means Adayar is ‘number one’ for the team now. But that was not the case in the Derby, where he was the 16-1 outsider of the stable’s three runners and Hurricane Lane the shortest at 6-1 – and the choice of Buick.

Appleby said: “From my point of view I’m very lucky to be hopefully sat there watching the pair of them jump from the gates in the Arc. From William’s point of view, it was a very hard decision to make. Two different profiles, but two outstanding three-year-old colts at a mile and a half.

“At the end of the day Hurricane Lane has only been beaten once, in the Derby – and as I’ve said before, he lost both his front shoes. He still had one shoe coming up the straight, at what point he lost it I don’t know but he obviously lost one at the top of the hill – you do just see him come under the pump, which surprised me, because at the end of the day he was the most fancied runner of our three going in.

“To see him at the top of the hill, William’s body language was telling me he wasn’t travelling as we’d expected. Possibly it’s where he lost his shoe, but post-race I think his immaturity showed still. He’d run as a rule prior to Epsom on very conventional tracks. Therefore he found that (Epsom) a challenge.

“If you’d stopped the video at the two-furlong marker, both were in a position where they were challenging the lead, but the one thing you have to give Adayar full credit for is he found acceleration to go through that gap. Hurricane Lane had a good clear run round, coming just off centre up the track, where we know most Derby horses like to come because the camber rolls away and you can sometimes get that momentum going. But he couldn’t do it.

“So therefore I think that’s what swung the pendulum for William. He’s backed it up in the King George, he’s shown that acceleration. He came off the turn at Ascot – and as much it was a nice, solid gallop, he picked up again and found when he needed to. That probably gives Adayar the edge.

“(But) we’ve seen what Hurricane Lane can do over a mile and a half – he stays the mile and a half well, that’s what won him the race in the Irish Derby. He was a very impressive winner of the Grand Prix de Paris, and I felt he didn’t have to drop down all the gears to win the St Leger.

“For myself and the team, we’re just supremely privileged to have two colts going into an Arc. To choose between them – like I’ve said, we’ve left that to William. Only he will be able to answer that question.

“We support one another, win, lose or draw. Going into the Arc he feels like he’s on the right horse – we’re very confident in our jockey and jockeys that if they choose that horse it’s the right way forward into a big race.”

Hurricane Lane went into unknown territory in the Leger when tackling an extended mile and three-quarters, but is now back on more familiar ground – over a mile and a half at a track at which he is already a Group One winner.

Appleby said: “It doesn’t concern me at all coming back to a mile and a half (with Hurricane Lane) – they’re two horses I feel very much are on their A-game now. We know they’ve got the ability and the physique, but more importantly they’ve got that racing brain now.

“When you go into these races and you’ve been beaten and you pick yourself up off the floor, like a lot of these good athletes do, they go in and they know what to do. They are a bit more hardened, and that’s what Adayar has had in his career. He’s not averse to having to tough it out when he needs to, and that’s what I feel has been the making of him.

“There’s no horse unbeaten going into that Arc, so we’re all singing off the same hymn sheet, and it’s going to be a great race.”

Appleby’s one Arc starter to date has been Ghaiyyath, who was beaten in 2019 but had shown his brilliance before then – and most definitely did afterwards.

He reflected: “Ghaiyyath, as we know, went in there on the back of an emphatic win in a German Group One – and we genuinely felt we had a chance. We thought he’d love the soft conditions – subsequently we found out he didn’t like soft conditions. It was one of those races that was an end-to-end gallop, and he was on the wrong end early on in the race, and it paid.

“I genuinely thought we had a competitive horse on the day. It didn’t happen there, but history will tell you we had a good horse on our hands in what he did post-Arc. He went on to be champion racehorse of the year. So I feel I know what individual we need to get there and I’ve definitely got the team behind me and the support.

“Any of those horses that win Arcs are always fantastic racehorses. Enable over the last few years has been fantastic – and Treve, the way she won those Arcs. The Arc itself, when you get to that meeting, I thoroughly enjoy it.

“It’s coming towards the end of the year, but it’s like Royal Ascot – it’s when you get all the best athletes together, and that’s what sport wants to see.

“I’ve only had one runner and no success as yet, but just to be at that meeting is great. To see all the good horses walking round the paddock, and to try to beat them, you get even more of a buzz out of it.”

High on the list of those Adayar and Hurricane Lane must beat are Snowfall and Tarnawa, trained by Aidan O’Brien and Dermot Weld respectively. While Snowfall had her reputation dented slightly with a reverse in the Prix Vermeille, she has been magnificent in winning the Oaks, Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks.

Tarnawa won the Breeders’ Cup last year, as well as the Vermeille and Prix de l’Opera, and only enhanced her credentials when pushing St Mark’s Basilica all the way in the Irish Champion Stakes.

Appleby said: “Snowfall, at the end of the day if she’d have gone and won the Vermeille, she would have been a short-priced favourite. She wasn’t beaten very far – and watching it and listening to Frankie (Dettori), he felt the pace of the race wasn’t to suit him, and so you’ve got to mark up her run.

“If she’d been a length and a half in front she would have been the short-priced favourite for the Arc. But like myself, it doesn’t ever worry me getting beaten, as long as the horse has come out of the race and it wasn’t lack of ability that got them beat. It was potentially the style of the race that got her beat. She’s got to be a serious contender on what she has achieved this year.

“Mr Weld’s mare is rock solid, and her prep race in the Irish Champion was a very exciting prep race going into an Arc. Those would be the two.”