5 September 2022
Given that there are just less than a week to go until the highly anticipated Qatar Arc Trials card (on Sunday 11 September 2022 at Paris-Longchamp), which will feature several prep races for the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe - designed to provide a clearer picture regarding the composition of the race regarded as the World Championship of thoroughbred racing – with the latter due to take place at the temple of French racing on Sunday 2 October. An international and exciting occasion in equal measure!
- GERMANY
Torquator Tasso, the 2021 Arc winner, is ready to defend his title!
The winner of the 2021 edition of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Germany’s Torquator Tasso will be out to defend his title on at ParisLongchamp on October 2. The horse was beaten a short margin (a head) in the Grosser Preis von Baden last Sunday (Sept 3), which is the very race that propelled him to glory last year. However, on this occasion, the race wasn’t run to suit: as Torquator Tasso likes soft ground and races with plenty of pace, which wasn’t the case in the German feature. Consequently he was out-battled by Mendocino, with the latter ridden by a jockey who knows Torquator Tasso inside out... René Piechulek. The latter guided the chestnut to victory in the Grosser Preis von Baden last year, but he was forced to desert him on this occasion in favour of Mendocino: a horse trained by his partner Sarah Steinberg... Lanfranco Dettori, one of the stars of the international scene, and jockey of the great Enable, a dual winner of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, was a luxury deputy...
Will the pair be back in harness on October 2? It’s not sure as Mendocino could try his luck at ParisLongchamp, as could the Grosser Preis von Baden third, the year younger Sammarco. If René Piechulek is required for Mendocino, Lanfranco Dettori will be reunited – and he will be only too pleased to do so! – with Torquator Tasso.
- GREAT BRITAIN
Baaeed, the world’s best, could be earmarked for the challenge of the century!
Baaeed is one of those thoroughbreds who leave an indelible mark in their particular era. The son of the crack performer Sea the Stars (the winner of the 2009 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 2009, and unbeaten as a 3-year-old in six Group 1 attempts), could follow in his sire’s hoofprints. Baaeed is unbeaten in ten career starts, and six of these have been gained at Group 1 level: the pinnacle of excellence in international racing. The Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe wasn’t his intended target when he was entered for the race in February. Why was this? It’s because Baaeed was regarded as a specialist miler, or in other words a horse best suited to 1,600 metres. In the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the various horses compete over 2,400 metres (12f) - a distance which this outstanding champion has yet to attempt!
However, this season, during the colt’s four-year-old campaign, trainer William Haggas wanted to test his charge over 2,000 metres (10f), and this following the horse’s displays in the Lockinge Stakes, the Queen Anne Stakes and the Sussex Stakes, which are three of the world's most demanding Group 1 races over 1,600 metres. In the Juddmonte International Stakes at York on August 17, Baaeed passed his 2000 metres test with flying colours. That was enough to entertain dreams of Arc glory...
Although a final decision in this respect has yet to be made, and his connections will have to supplement him (i.e. enter him four days before the race at a cost of €120,000) in order for him to run at ParisLongchamp, but an attempt at the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a long way from being ruled out... on the proviso that the ground hasn’t eased too much, as Baaeed has an aversion to the mud!
Given his participation, and, more pertinently, a victory for the horse would be a wonderful tribute from Sheikha Hissa bint Hamdan Al Maktoum, the owner of Baaeed and who races under the Shadwell banner, to her late father, Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, who died 18 months ago. The latter did breed a winner of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and namely the 2001 victor Sakhee, but this horse raced in the Godolphin colours (the stable of his brother, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum) when he proved victorious.
- FRANCE
The French are determined to have the final say
Whether they represent Deauville, Chantilly or Maisons-Laffitte, the three major training hubs of Gallic flat racing, the French are determined to reclaim their title in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and this by emulating Sottsass - the last French winner of the Arc in 2020.
- DEAUVILLE (Calvados region) - Al Hakeem draws parallels with Sottsass
Sottsass was trained by Jean-Claude Rouget at Deauville (Calvados region), and this professional is again well armed this year. As he could saddle Al Hakeem and Lassaut, who are a pair of 3-year-olds which are among the best of their generation. Al Hakeem, a son of Siyouni, and, in common with Sottsass, he’s locally-trained: the winner of Prix Guillaume d'Ornano (Group 2) at the Deauville-Barrière Meeting, he will now head straight to the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Lassaut, whose co-owners include none other than the Formula 1 racing driver Charles Leclerc, will have to seal his passage for the Arc in Sunday’s Qatar Prix Niel. Talented although wayward as the stalls open, he must learn to be quicker into his stride in order to avoid comprising his chances at the start. Perhaps his owner, in his guise as a champion of his profession, could pass on some timely advice to his charge about this very subject matter?!
Jean-Claude Rouget is also the trainer of the best three-year-old colt in France (and perhaps in Europe!), Vadeni. The winner of the Qipco Prix du Jockey-Club, he confirmed that success by following up in the Eclipse Stakes, and the colt is due to contest the Irish Champion Stakes on Saturday. This is the race that was used as a springboard for Sottsass before his Arc triumph. If the Aga Khan's colt runs well, he could yet be in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe line up!
- CHANTILLY (Oise region) - Verry Elleegant, from one continent to another, and the iron horse Sealiway
Both are trained are Chantilly by Francis-Henri Graffard but that is where their similarities end. Verry Elleegant joined the Chantilly handler in May. The mare came straight from Australia, where she has won all the major races in that country, including eleven Group 1 prizes! Her numerous owners (she’s part of an ownership group) are dreaming about Arc [glory], and they have therefore chosen to send the mare to France to prepare for this top assignment. The change [in scenery] hasn’t been without its consequences for the mare: as her reappearance effort at Deauville, in the Darley Prix Jean Romanet, showed that she still needs to find her feet. Her display on Sunday [Sept 11] in one of the Arc preps, either the Qatar Prix Foy or the Qatar Prix Vermeille, with the former race the preferred option, will be decisive in determining her participation in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, a race for which, in common with Baaeed, she will need to be supplemented.
Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard is also expected to saddle Sealiway. The horse, owned by the Haras de la Gousserie and Guy Pariente, contested the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe last year, having finished fifth despite coming off an absence of several months. He went on to capture one of the most coveted races of the British calendar, the Champion Stakes. This year he has been less effective on tracks which have been riding on the fast side – conditions hardly designed to suit him - but it’s anticipated that he will raise his game in view of his major objective.
- MAISONS-LAFFITTE (Yvelines region) – The twin challenge of the Maisons-Laffitte princesses
A mare and a filly are expected to fly the flag for the Maisons-Laffitte training centre. The former is none other than Grand Glory, and is trained by Gianluca Bietolini - an Italian professional who opted to further his career by relocating to France. Grand Glory is now a six-year-old but she’s better than ever! She changed ownership last December, having been acquired for the sum of 2.5 million euros. She carries the colours of the Haras du Hus, which is the concern of businessman Xavier Marie (the founder of the Maisons du Monde brand). After an attempt at the backend of 2021, in the Japan Cup, the major race in Japan, she made a victorious return in a Listed race, and won a Group 3 event at ParisLongchamp, before finishing third in the Prince of Wales's Stakes. The latter is a Group 1 race which forms part of the prestigious Royal Ascot Meeting.
Grand Glory will have her final tune up on Sunday, September 11 (2022) in the Qatar Prix Vermeille, where she will clash with another filly trained at Maisons-Laffitte, La Parisienne, who hails from the stable of Carlos Lerner and his son Yann. Despite being a 3-year-old, she boasts some serious form. She was only beaten by short head by Nashwa, the mount of the female jockey Hollie Doyle, in the Prix de Diane Longines. The latter race represents the very spring apex of the top races open to 3-year-old fillies.
- JAPAN
Responding to the power of four!
The Japanese people have a dream: to win the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Despite numerous attempts by Japanese horses, this dream has yet to become reality... This year, the Japanese are out in force, as they will have with no less than four representatives.
Do Deuce, a 3-year-old, was a Chantilly arrival at the end of last week. He will acquaint himself with the [intricacies of] French racing in the Qatar Prix Niel on Sunday, September 11, when he will have the services of Japanese racing legend, the jockey Yutaka Take, 53, and a rider with an impressive track record of success in the top international prizes... all of them with the exception of one: the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe! His partnership with Do Deuce, the impressive winner of the Japanese Derby in May, could perhaps prove to be one of the great horses he has been associated with during with his career, having previously partnered Deep Impact - the all-time great performer of Japanese racing!
Continuing with the Japanese theme, the French racing public got their first glimpse of Stay Foolish at the Deauville-Barrière Meeting on August 28, where he finished second in the Grand Prix de Deauville. Stay Foolish has already shone outside his country's borders, having won in Saudi Arabia and Meydan during the winter. A long-distance specialist, he will not have an easy task in the Arc, despite the fact that his jockey, Frenchman Christophe Lemaire, who has been plying his trade in Japan for seven years, knows the ParisLongchamp track like the back of his hand!
Deep Bond is also well known in France as he contested the 2021 Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, although the ground had eased too much for his liking. His connections are repeating the experience, and they will be hoping for an Indian summer in the Parisian region...
Lastly, the four-year-old Titleholder is probably the one with the best chance of the quartet Unbeaten this year in Japan, he boasts three Group 1 wins, and has already put Deep Bond in his place. On the other hand, he has never raced outside his native homeland, in common with Do Deuce. This represents a big leap into the unknown, especially as the horse is scheduled to arrive in France in mid-September, with a view to tackling the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe without a prior prep race.