Arc day opened to high farce and acute embarrassment for the organisers here when a malfunctioning stall caused havoc in the Qatar Prix de l'Abbaye. As high-ranking officials from the middle eastern state braced themselves for the first of their extravagantly sponsored races, the stall housing Fleeting Spirit failed to open at all.

Jeremy Noseda's filly was thus trapped while her 19 opponents hurtled down the track in a blurred blaze of colour. One by one the jockeys realised something was amiss - with the exception of Andreas Suborics aboard the Hungarian-trained Overdose, who completed the five-furlong journey at racing pace and finished alone. However, Magyar elation quickly turned to anger on realisation that a false start had been called.

In scenes reminiscent of the void Grand National in 1993, very few jockeys noticed the recall man impotently waving his flag. “I never saw him at all,” said Frankie Dettori, who rode Dandy Man. I realised after 2 furlongs that something was wrong, but trying to stop a sprinter doing 60mph - it's impossible.” Most of the jockeys who completed the course were drawn on the stands' side, some distance away from stall 18, where Fleeting Spirit clattered her head against a gate that failed to open. “I have never seen anything like it in my life,” a bemused Noseda said.

Sandor Ribarszki, who trains the unbeaten Overdose, was far less restrained. Amid sporadic booing from Hungarians waving national flags by the paddock, Ribarszki said: “I am very angry. We have come 1,700km for this. What a bunch of idiots.” It was hardly the way to inaugurate a Qatari sponsorship deal so substantial that it elevated the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe into second place among the world's richest races. Qatar endorsed four other races on the card, among them the Abbaye.

As it was, damp, autumnal conditions greeted representatives of a desert state which is keen to make an international impact. They could hardly have expected scenes they would not tolerate within their fledgling racing set-up - never mind at a fixture the French like to describe as the finest in Europe.

Edouard de Rothschild, the president of France-Galop, which runs the sport in France, put a brave face on the controversy. “It was a technical break-up,” he lamented. “It is very unfortunate, but these things happen in every sector of life. We felt the most equitable thing was to re-run the race at the end of the card.” So it was that a reduced field of 17, missing Overdose and two others from the void race, went to post in the gathering gloom. While the record books will show that Marchand D'Or triumphed, the memory of a wretched episode will outlive the identity of the winner.

Nor was it a day to remember for the Coolmore syndicate. Much was expected of the Aidan O'Brien-trained Mastercraftsman in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere Grand Criterium, but the colt failed to feature behind Naaqoos, a seventh group one winner of the season for Freddie Head, a number quickly increased to eight by the success of Marchand D'Or.

Despite Halfway To Heaven's Sun Chariot Stakes victory on Saturday, O'Brien's weekend got off to a dispiriting start when Yeats ran disappointingly in the Prix du Cadran. Like Yeats, Mastercraftsman was sent off a long odds-on favourite and suffered a dent to his reputation.

David Wachman was next into the breach for Coolmore. Once more, however, the syndicate's Again trailed throughout in a Prix Marcel Boussac won impressively by Proportional, this one trained by Freddie Head's sister, Criquette Head-Maarek.

The eclipse of the Anglo-Irish challenge was complete when Lush Lashes was overhauled late on in the Prix de l'Opera. The Jim Bolger-trained filly looked tired when she struck the front nearing the final furlong and was duly collared by Germany's Lady Marian.