The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is one of my favourite races in the International calendar. Though, as a part-time Chef who works every weekend, I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve conveniently popped to the loo just after 3pm on the first Sunday in October.
The Arc tends to be a culmination of the sports most dominant middle distance equine athletes. Featuring Classic winners, Group 1 winners from across the globe, returning champions and older heroes seeking redemption, success in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is one of the most prestigious titles for the thoroughbred.
5. Golden Horn – “Golden Horn is answering every call from Frankie!”
As an avid lover of middle distance horses, it’s tough not to include Golden Horn into this illustrious roll of honour. Just six horses have won both the Derby and the Arc during their three-year-old careers, beginning with Sea Bird in 1965. Not even the great Njinsky could complete the feat, for all he had just succeeded in winning the Triple Crown.
It’s becoming increasingly forgotten how impressive Golden Horn’s three-year-old season was. He was just a neck and a half a length away from being in the rare realm of racing immortality. Jack Hobbs was the Clarehaven Derby candidate of 2015, but when William Buick and Golden Horn beat Jack Hobbs and Frankie Dettori in the Dante Stakes, Gosden supplemented the runner up for the Derby and Dettori chose Golden Horn, with Buick on Jack Hobbs.
The pair reversed the placings with each other, and Golden Horn would go on to win the Coral-Eclipse and the Irish Champion Stakes. Gosden took him to the Arc, where Treve was seeking a historic third successive win.
Drawn in stall 14, he would have to have produced his best performance yet, but under a perfectly executed ride from Dettori, he completed the rare Derby/Arc double.
4. Torquator Tasso – “Torquator who?”
Torquator Tasso’s Arc success is rarely thought of when discussing the modern era of Arc heroes. Perhaps as very few fancied him, or as he wasn’t by ‘flashy’ connections typically associated with European Group 1’s. The headline of the Racing Post in the aftermath was “Torquator who?” – which says it all.
I was slightly frustrated with myself for not giving a good mention to Torquator Tasso, as it was around the time I’d written a blog about the influence of Urban Sea on the breed. If you were to go back four generations on the dam-side of Torquator Tasso, you’d find Allegretta, the dam of Urban Sea. I’d clocked this at the time but like many, had entirely underestimated the strength of his Group 1 Preis Von Baden success.
Sent off 72/1 in a field containing: Tarnawa, a three time Group 1 winner including the Breeders’ Cup Turf; Hurricane Lane, also a three time Group 1 winner including the St Leger and the Grand Prix de Paris over course and distance; Adayar, that years Epsom Derby and King George winner, Snowfall, an Epsom, Irish and Yorkshire Oaks winner, and Chrono Genesis, the big Japan hope after five Group 1 success in his nation. Well, how could you fancy him? It was one of the most talented Arc fields we’ve seen of late, and it served as a modest reminder that it is still a horse race, and as ever, this wonderfully bizarre sport is a great leveller.
3. Alpinista – “I would swim the length of the English Channel if it meant landing a first Arc”
I can’t imagine there were many racing purists wanting to see Alpinista beaten in the 2022 Arc. The Frankel filly won her eighth successive victory and a fifth straight Group 1 as she dominantly asserted late on under Luke Morris. There’s few better sights than seeing a galloping, imposing grey with a huge stride, especially at the top level.
Furthermore, it was a huge success for the breeding operation of Kirsten Rausing. Alpinista was a product of the coveted ‘Al’ dam-line, beginning when Rausing purchased Alruccaba as a three year old from the 1986 Tattersalls December Sales.
Alpinista’s success was a timely reminder of the importance of the intricate breeding of middle distance thoroughbreds; it really is a shame to see this shift toward breeding for speed, it’ll only weaken the breed for years to come.
2. Enable – the “Queen of racing”
The history of the Arc producing equine greats continued when Enable came along. The Nathaniel filly capped off her three-year-old season that featured an Epsom, Irish and Yorkshire Oaks alongside a King George with a memorable display in the 2017 Arc. She made proven Group One 1 colts such as Cloth Of Stars, Ulysees and Order Of St George look mere mortals.
Following her first Arc, she was trained for a repeat performance with just one run in the interim. She displayed her ferocious attitude as she fended off Sea Of Class, who like Enable, arrived on the back of Irish and Yorkshire Oaks wins.
Enable would then go on to land the Breeders’ Cup Turf, an Eclipse, and land another King George in what was one of the most memorable horse races of the modern era against Crystal Ocean.
Sadly, she failed to land a historic treble as Waldgiest reversed the form in the heavy conditions, with subsequent Arc winner Sottsass in third.
1. Sea The Stars – “Perfection in equine form”
The year 2009 was a golden age for sporting entertainment. Usain Bolt broke the 100m world record with a time of 9.58 seconds, Cristiano Ronaldo completed a record £80 million move to Real Madrid and Roger Federer defeated Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon Final setting a record for the most games played in a Grand Slam final.
However – from a totally unbiased perspective – the most important achievement of all was Sea The Stars‘ Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe performance, capping off a sensational three-year-old season. Admittedly, I was only nine when this occurred and my passion for Horse Racing wasn’t yet discovered. However, like most ‘young’ racing fans, it’s impossible not to be entirely fascinated by that campaign
2000 Guineas, the Derby, the Coral-Eclipse, a Juddmonte International, an Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Each of them a dominant display beating some of the sport’s most talented performers, many of whom have gone on and continue to be successful stallions.
The breeding aspect is where my affinity with Sea The Stars lies. A half-brother to Galileo out of the 1993 Arc winner Urban Sea. He was destined for greatness. I confess, I do lament the fact I wasn’t old enough to remember the Sea The Stars and Frankel days, but Baaeed was the closest thing in my generation to them and for that, along with the likes of Crystal Ocean and Stradivarius, Sea The Stars will always be my favourite Arc winner.