Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Group 1)

DARYZ outdid his sire, the 2009 hero Sea The Stars, and crowned his career with a decisive second Group 1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victory on an idyllic sunny Sunday at Longchamp.

His three closest pursuers all appeared to register new personal bests in filling the frame but, with Mickael Barzalona having given Daryz a conservative, ‘let’s stay out of trouble’ ride, there was little doubt as to the winner’s superiority.

The first male to defend his Arc crown for almost 50 years, Daryz will now head off to join the stallion ranks of his owner-breeder, Aga Khan Studs, and we should be grateful for having witnessed his brilliance rather than bemoan the fact that he is gone.

Taking into account that the only blots on his record were when he twice left France to race in England, the assumption that he is not a good traveller is a reasonable one, so his only sensible remaining 2026 target of the Breeders’ Cup Turf in America would have been a highly risky venture.

Predictably, given the absence of a designated pacemaker, the race was shaped by its lack of a strong tempo.

Friendly Soul, who had pulled her way to the front in the Prix Vermeille, proved more tractable this time meaning that, after a rapid break, James Doyle was able to spearhead the field for a couple of furlongs before gratefully reining her back in behind Meisho Tabaru, the only regular trailblazer in the line-up, who had taken time to get to the front from his high draw.

Bay City Roller was kept wide from his outside draw for a couple of furlongs by Oisin Murphy before switching across to sit on the leader’s quarters in second place.

Aidan O’Brien’s Diamond Necklace did not seem greatly inconvenienced by having exited from stall 16 of 16, thanks to Christophe Soumillon switching her inside from flagfall and gaining a position halfway down the field, albeit she was posted three-wide.

Lit up

Most felt that Daryz had got lucky with his allocation of stall five but, as it turned out, he got a bit lit up in between horses after a furlong and a half when Doyle dabbed his foot on the brakes, causing a concertina effect, and Barzalona took the safety-first decision of guiding him to the outside, two-thirds of the way back but properly settled and with the perfect horse to follow in Diamond Necklace.

Bay City Roller struck for home approaching the quarter mile pole and, despite edging right, may momentarily have established a lead of over a length.

But, having avoided the weakening Bright Light, Daryz had by now found plenty of room down the outside and was able to conjure a startling burst of speed to power past 120 yards from the finish and cross the line a length and a quarter to the good.

Diamond Necklace was in pole position and appeared to be travelling best of all when the sprint started but her change of gear could not match the winner and, despite seeing out the mile and a half well, she was still a neck adrift of Bay City Roller at the line, while Friendly Soul, who enjoyed the perfect trip scraping the paint, was another short neck back in fourth.

There was then a two-length break to a six-way battle for fifth place which was won by Kalpana, who simply couldn’t match the speed of the principals towards the inside, just a nose in front of Maltese Cross, who had failed to handle the preliminaries and then took a keen hold.

There was remarkably little interference in the home straight given what was at stake, but Varandir did well to get as close as a head behind Maltese Cross after being shuffled back to 15th on the home turn, while Joseph O’Brien’s Thundering On may have lacked daylight on a couple of instances before coming from the rear to finish eighth.

Just behind her were the second and third Aidan O’Brien runners, Benvenuto Cellini (who had started slowest of all) and Minnie Hauk, in ninth and 10th.

A mere seven lengths covered the entire field at the winning post and even last-placed Bright Light ran with a good deal of credit given that he had made a rapid move, circling around the pack, to get within striking distance of the leaders entering the straight.

In my opinion, in the build-up to the race far too much significance was attributed to the advantage of a low draw.

Inside stall a hindrance?

Horses drawn 15 and 16 finished second and third and, with the winning pilot keen to ensure a clear run, Daryz’s inside stall may actually have been a hindrance rather than a help. To come from as far back as he did off a slow pace proved that he was a deserving winner.

Winning trainer Francis Graffard has been a journalist’s dream through his still burgeoning career, in particular in the past 12 months, wanting to share the majesty of the mighty Daryz with the wider world, constantly agreeing to media requests and taking the opportunity to promote our sport.

After shedding tears of relief when interviewed by Equidia, the French racing television channel, straight after the race, he soon regained his customary composure, and said: “This year, we approached the race with a completely different status, we were under a good deal of pressure.

“I felt a heavy weight on my shoulders as the horses were loading into the stalls. It’s really tough: our job is to get the horses to peak condition for the big day, yet the race is still subject to the unpredictable twists of fate.

“Daryz is simply a great champion. It was a wonderful sight. I hope that everyone following racing around the world got to appreciate the moment.”

Champion Stakes next up

George Scott couldn’t quite cap off an astonishing Arc meeting with victory in its titular contest, but he was still mighty proud of Bay City Roller’s effort.

“What a machine Bay City Roller is, he’s an amazing racehorse. We’ve been beaten by a champion today and congratulations to his connections, Francis [Graffard] is always an absolute gentleman and comes over to have a chat whenever I see him on a racecourse.

“We’ll go for the Champion Stakes now and hope we get a little bit of rain. I’m proud of my whole team and [owner] Sheikh Nasser is here and has enjoyed it.

“We’ve finished second in the Arc, but we need to go one better. Everyone wants to pigeonhole my horse as a mudlover but he’s not. I think he’ll stay in training next season and he’ll come back here.”

Should the usual rainfall pattern return and next year’s race be run on soft ground, Bay City Roller’s claims are overwhelming: before Sunday he had contested only three Group 1 races and won the two that had taken place on testing conditions by a combined total of 17 lengths.

Aidan O’Brien said: “We always knew that Diamond Necklace was a good filly, and you couldn’t say that she hasn’t stayed the mile and a half.

“The Breeders’ Cup is a possibility for her now, Christophe just said that he’d have liked a horse to lead her a bit further into the home straight.

“As for Ryan [Moore, on Benvenuto Cellini] and William [Buick, on Minnie Hauk], they both said the same thing, that they needed a stronger pace.”

Prix Marcel Boussac (Group 1)

THE rest of Sunday’s Group 1 racing began and ended with Irish victories for two generations of the O’Brien family, with a number of near-misses in between.

Joseph O’Brien kicked things off in style in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac as Green Empress just got the better of a stirring battle with Data by a head.

The runner-up may have been a shade unlucky, as she had to alter course at the top of the straight when the front-running Spirit Tango sadly suffered a fatal injury, but Green Empress, a daughter of Saxon Warrior, really stuck her neck out when it mattered.

Joseph said: “This filly has just kept on improving. This year, she has ultimately beaten only by an exceptional filly [Sun Goddess, finishing second to her no less than three times], so it is very satisfying to see her secure a Group 1 win today.

“She is an imposing filly with a great physique, and she really gives the impression that, with the right preparation, she could be just as good - if not better - next year.”

The Thoroughbred Racing Corporation owned numerous top class horses on both sides of the Atlantic, including Oath, War Emblem and Royal Anthem, at the turn of the century, but this was its biggest moment since being relaunched in 2022.

Jane Mangan, racing manager to the winning owner, said: “This is a very special moment. When this filly won the Debutante Stakes, it was exactly 30 years after the late Prince Ahmed Salman [the organisation’s founder] won the Debutante in the US - his first Grade 1 victory.

“Joseph showed a great deal of patience with this filly. We kept on running up against Sun Goddess but, fortunately, our luck has finally turned! The Breeders’ Cup is definitely on the agenda.

“Joseph took it easy with her during the height of summer with precisely this kind of campaign in mind, and we would love to head to Kentucky.”

Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (Group 1)

A MOMENTOUS Joseph O’Brien juvenile double was widely expected, as his easy Group 1 National Stakes victor, Folsom Blues, was sent off at odds-on for the second race on the card, the Group 1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

But that was to reckon without Colin Keane’s mount, the filly Amusingly, whose trainer Francis Graffard had taken the bold move of scratching her from the one-mile Boussac, for which she was ante-post favourite, in order to supplement her to take on the boys in this contest, which was over seven furlongs.

It proved an inspired move as, despite refusing to settle in the early stages, Amusingly scorched past all nine of her rivals in the last furlong and a half to cross the line a length and a quarter in front of Folsom Blues with Aidan O’Brien filling the next three places with Man’s Best Friend, Florida Bay and Aix La Chapelle.

Graffard said: “Supplementing Amusingly was a big risk and I was seriously worried that I’d made the wrong call, but her owners, Juddmonte, backed me 100%, which makes this win so much sweeter after we were all so frustrated when Sunly was touched off [in the Prix de Royallieu] yesterday.”

Joseph commented: “It was a great run by Folsom Blues but the winner looks very special. Mine is a very exciting colt for the future and we have no excuses.

“He’s a sprinter-miler and we’ll look at going down the classic route and then see whether we come back to sprinting. He’s a fast horse who could stay a mile.”

Qatar Prix de la Foret (Group 1)

BY the time that we reached the 11th and final pattern race of the Arc weekend, the Group 1 Qatar Prix de la Foret, Aidan O’Brien had suffered 19 consecutive Longchamp losers over the weekend.

And it looked like that would become 21 when his Puerto Rico was getting the worst of a tight battle with Nighttime in the dying strides of this seven-furlong affair, only for the other Ballydoyle hope, True Love, to sweep past them both, saving the day by a head with her stablemate the same distance back in third.

A relieved winning trainer said: “It is wonderful to get a win on the board. True Love is a serious filly who has been on the go for a long time [this was her eighth start of the season, the last seven of which have been in Group 1s], even when she has been beaten she has still been running well.

“She won the 1000 Guineas in the spring and now here she is again in the autumn. Ryan rode her a bit more aggressively this time which suited her. The Breeders’ Cup Mile is a possible target for both her and Puerto Rico.”

Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp Longines (Group 1)

NOT for the first time in recent years, the five-furlong Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp Longines looked like a sub-standard Group 1 and, as per usual, a single-figure draw proved to be a necessity.

The result was at least a popular one, as the Yorkshire stable of Karl Burke, which had to suffer the trauma of seeing its flagbearer, Fallen Angel, put down after suffering and irreparable injury at this track less than 24 hours earlier, landed the spoils with the Tally-Ho Stud-bred Cotai Glory filly, Miss Yechance.

A biggest career success for 20-year-old apprentice jockey Jack Nicholls, whose late grandfather David ‘Dandy’ Nicholls, rode Soba to finish second in this race in 1983 and trained Continent to win it 19 years later, Miss Yechance made every yard of the running and held off the late thrust of Shiri by a neck with Aidan O’Brien’s Mission Central the same distance back in third.

Prix de l’Opera Longines (Group 1)

THE green and white striped Thoroughbred Racing Corporation silks carried to victory by Green Empress were back in the winner’s enclosure four hours later with Miss Scott.

Bred in Ireland by Ballylinch Stud and Ecurie des Charmes but trained in England by John and Thady Gosden, she proved a length and a half too strong for Aidan O’Brien’s Precise in the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera Longines. The runner-up could go for the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.