Daryz‘s second Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victory is less than a week old, but the debate over next year’s race is already raging. France Galop’s decision to open the Arc to geldings from 2027 was signed off by the European Pattern Committee in September. On Thursday night, Coolmore threw their weight behind a petition from Henri Bozo, the French breeder of Diamond Necklace, calling for the move to be reversed.
It is an argument that splits racing down the middle, between those who see the Arc as the sport’s ultimate stallion-making race and those who believe Europe’s championship should be open to its best middle-distance horses, whatever their status. The GG office is no different. Below, Joe Napier makes the case for the petition and for keeping geldings out, while Billy Grimshaw argues that the sport has nothing to fear from letting them in.
Joe Napier: “A gelding can never pass that class on to the next generation”
Coolmore have thrown their considerable weight behind Henri Bozo’s petition to keep geldings out of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and they are right to do so. France Galop’s decision to open Europe’s greatest middle-distance race to geldings from 2027 has been rubber-stamped by the European Pattern Committee. The petition, launched by the breeder of Diamond Necklace, had around 500 signatures within hours, and it deserves plenty more.
A stallion-making race
The Arc is not just a horse race. It is the ultimate stallion-making contest, the race that turned Montjeu and Sea The Stars into breed-shaping sires. At a time when the industry is struggling to maintain crop numbers, that matters more than ever. Only 352 yearlings changed hands at Tattersalls October Book 1 this week, 43 fewer than 12 months ago. A gelding can win the Arc, but it can never pass that class on to the next generation.
There is a knock-on effect, too. With the biggest prize in European racing now available to geldings, connections may be tempted to reach for the snip sooner. A colt who is tricky at three could be gelded before he has had the chance to show what he might become, and he is lost to the breeding shed for good.
Trainers and connections do know best, of course, and it may be that the likes of Rebel’s Romance, Calandagan and Addeybb only reached their peaks because of it. However, we may reach a situation where an acceptance of not knowing becomes the norm.
An unfair advantage
When one of the masters of the sport speaks, it pays to listen. “It’s so much easier to train a gelding, they will have an unfair advantage in the race,” said Aidan O’Brien, a man who has spent three decades getting the best out of temperamental colts. Keeping a colt sweet through a campaign that builds to the first Sunday in October is an art, and the Arc has always rewarded it.
What sets the Arc apart
The King George already welcomes geldings, and Calandagan and Goliath have won two of the last three runnings at Ascot. That is fine; it is a different race with a different purpose. The Arc’s exclusivity is precisely what separates it from the King George in stature, and that is what makes winning it the ultimate championship prize. Strip that away and Longchamp becomes just another big Sunday.
Some things in racing are worth protecting. The Arc is one of them.
Billy Grimshaw: “Nobody is kicking the colts out. They’ll line up next year exactly as they always have“
Coolmore have thrown their weight behind a petition to keep geldings out of the Arc, and I’m sorry, but I’m not buying it.
A commercial argument
Let’s start with who’s asking. Coolmore stand stallions for a living. John Magnier himself said he was “only giving it from the breeding side”. At least he’s honest about it, but that’s a commercial argument wearing a sporting costume.
A championship, not a shop window
The petition says opening the race up undermines its status as the premier 1m4f test for future breeding prospects. Think about that for a second. Nobody is kicking the colts out. They’ll line up next year exactly as they always have, with a few geldings alongside them. If your colt is the best horse, he wins, and his stud career is none the worse for it. If a gelding beats him, he wasn’t the best horse, and finding that out is surely the entire point of the Arc. A race that only tests the horses who can go to stud isn’t a championship. It’s a shop window.
Then there’s the Goliath and Calandagan problem. Francis Graffard trained both, both won the King George, and neither could run in France’s biggest race. Can anyone seriously argue the Arc is the ultimate test of Europe’s best middle-distance horses when it shuts out the King George winners? Nobody says the King George isn’t a proper race because a gelding can win it.
A choice, not a rule
Aidan O’Brien says geldings are easier to train, so they’d have an unfair advantage. Maybe. But gelding a horse is a choice every owner and trainer gets to make. It isn’t a rule. And a gelding who keeps racing at five, six and seven is great news for fans who’d rather watch a star for years than a couple of months before he disappears to the paddocks.
Hardly a groundswell
As for the call for proper consultation, France Galop’s board gave the change overwhelming approval and the European Pattern Committee signed it off after a member vote. You can dislike the answer, but that’s a process. The petition had around 500 signatures at 8am on Friday. For the biggest race in Europe, that’s hardly a groundswell.
Even John Oxx, a dual Arc-winning trainer, said he was surprised by the decision but thinks it could be an intriguing experiment. That’s the right attitude. The Arc has been going for over a century, and it’ll cope with a few geldings.