Treve© Photo Healy Racing
Treve was only fourth as Baltic Baroness recorded a surprise success in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp.
Winner of last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe but without a victory in two starts this season, Treve was reunited with jockey Thierry Jarnet for a race she claimed last year in the hands of Frankie Dettori. Anchored at the rear of the field, the Criquette Head-Maarek-trained four-year-old made progress wide into the straight, from where she held every chance.
William Buick, meanwhile, was still at the head of affairs on Pomology, as he had been from an early stage, and while Treve did make some ground to the furlong and a half point she was not given an overly hard time. Andre Fabre's Baltic Baroness sneaked up the rail and just came out on top from Pomology after quite a battle through the final furlong.
Jarnet said: "Obviously I am disappointed, as we were expecting a better result. I think she is still feeling the race from the beginning of the season. When she was working in the mornings she didn't show any signs of that, but today when I was in the middle of the straight when I really had to ask her to quicken she didn't.
"It (the Arc) is going to be very difficult. It's a little too early to say anything, because this was a reappearance so she can improve on that. In the three weeks (before the Arc) we will see how she progresses, but it is going to come quickly."
Head-Maarek said: "The filly had a few problems and it might be that she is not the same filly as she was last year. She made a good effort, she gave weight away and finished not too far back and you have to remember that after the race in England (Prince of Wales's Stakes) she was literally stopped for a whole month (with a muscle problem), she was being walked.
"Personally I would like to see her in the Arc and I will do everything I can so she can be at the start of the Arc. I am hoping the ground will be a little bit softer. They (owners) are obviously disappointed, when you are beaten with a horse like that you are always disappointed.
"The decision shouldn't be made hastily, you have to see her again after the race. There might be some fine-tuning that can be done and she would be much better suited to it being softer."
Al Shaqab Racing supremo Sheikh Joaan Al Thani said: "Treve has proved that she is a great filly, she has nothing to prove. She won the Arc and she is continuing to run second, third and fourth in her races.
"She is still staying in the Arc, nothing is going to change. She is a great filly, she won her Arc so I don't think there is a point in being disappointed. We are very lucky to have all these horses."
Buick said of the John Gosden-trained Pomology: "She ran the best race of her life, she was hanging the whole way round but she came back again when the other horse came on her inside. She will go for the Champion Fillies and Mares' race at Ascot on Champions Day."
