DANEDREAM not only won the 90th Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe by five lengths in a race record time last Sunday, but she also had the winners of 27 Group/Grade 1 races trailing in her slipstream.
She surged past the post ahead of the 72/1 chance Shareta, with Snow Fairy a neck away third. The Aidan O’Brien stable picked up €442,800 as So You Think ran fourth, in front of St Nicholas Abbey.
Danedream and Andrasch Starke had the race sewn up at the furlong marker, and she became the second German-trained horse to win the Arc since it was first run in 1920. The first German victory occurred in 1975 when Greville Starkey was victorious on the 118/1 chance Star Appeal, with such greats as Allez France and Dahlia behind.
Fillies filled the first three places this year, which had last happened in 1983 when All Along defeated Sun Princess and Luth Enchantee.
Peter Schiergen had supplemented Danedream to the Arc for €100,000 the previous Thursday, and she was following in the footsteps of Marienbard who had used the Grosser Preis von Baden as a stepping stone before a tilt at Europe’s richest race. The lucky man was Teruya Yoshida as he had acquired a 50% stakes in the filly shortly before the race.
Since Dancing Brace in 1986 three-year-olds have won the Arc 21 times compared to their elders with five wins. Fillies of the classic generation have been making their presence felt in the winners’ enclosure as Zarkava was the heroine in 2008, and she broke a drought of 26 years for her age and sex after Akiyda in 1982. Both fillies were owned by the Aga Khan.
Danedream was virtually ignored by the betting public as she had cantered home in the Grosser Preis von Berlin before a similar performance on very soft ground in the Preis von Baden. She paid nearly 27/1 for a win on the pari-mutuel, and those managing to find the first three in the correct order received a dividend of nearly €10,700.
It was a glorious day at Longchamp, and 50,250 turned out to watch the six Group 1 races. The attendance was 17% up on the previous year. Jointly owned by Yoshida and Gestut Berg Eberstein, which is owned by the Volz family, Danedream was pre-trained by Schiergen before going to the breeze up sale at Baden Baden where she was knocked down to the BBA Germany for €9,000.
[Danedream, a daughter of Lomitas, remained in training at four and won the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and a second Grosser Preis von Baden. She is the dam of two winners, including the stakes-placed Faylaq (Dubawi) who sold as a yearling for 1,500,000gns]
Simcock’s Dream spoils Goldikova’s French adieu
THE vast majority at Longchamp last Sunday wanted Goldikova to finish her career in France on a winning note, but it was not to be.
The winner of 14 Group/Grade 1 races was given every chance, but she failed to hold the classy English colt Dream Ahead in the dying stages of the Qatar Prix de la Foret. William Buick managed to conjure just that little bit extra out of Dream Ahead, who went on to win by a head.
The son of Diktat was landing his fifth Group 1 race for David Simcock, and his poor run in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville still remains a mystery.
Before the Foret the breeding rights to Dream Ahead were sold to SF Bloodstock and Ballylinch Stud, and its manager John O’Connor said: “He won’t run again next season, and it’s likely that was his last race.”
Dream Ahead set a new race record for the Foret.
[Originally at Ballylinch Stud, Dream Ahead now stands at Haras de Grandcamp. He is the sire of Group 1 winners Dream Of Dreams, Glass Slippers, Donjuan Triumphant and Al Wukair, three Group 2 winners and six Group 3 winners]
Dettori leaves it very late on Dabirsim
IT was a great day for the Germans as bookmaker Simon Springer owns Dabirsim, who must have raised his blood pressure to dangerous heights when taking the Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.
Given an inspired ride by Frankie Dettori, the colt swooped very late to keep his unbeaten record, and also give the Italian his 500th victory in a group race. The winning distance does not reflect the true superiority of Dabirsim who is now unbeaten in five races, and the first horse to land the Prix Morny/Jean-Luc Lagardere double since the Breeders’ Cup juvenile winner Arazi exactly 20 years ago.
The son of Hat Trick cost Springer €30,000 at the Arqana Yearling Sale last year, and is trained by 35-year-old Christophe Ferland at La Teste, near Bordeaux.
[Dabirsim stands alongside Dream Ahead at Haras de Grandcamp. He failed to win in two starts at three. He is the sire of six stakes winners, two of them at Group 3 level]
Poignant victory for Varian
FRANKIE Dettori’s second Group 1 winner of the afternoon came when he landed the Qatar Prix de l’Opera with Nahrain, who gave Roger Varian his first win at this level.
At the beginning of the year Varian took over the stable of the late Michael Jarvis, whose funeral had taken place in Newmarket the Friday before the Arc de Triomphe meeting. Varian’s first words after the race were: “Michael was a great man and I’m sure he was up there pushing Nahrain past the post.”
Dettori had to ride one of his strongest finishes to hold off the desperate late challenge of the favourite Announce and Maxime Guyon by a nose. Guyon lodged an objection to the winner, but the stewards did not take long to throw it out.
After being well up from the start, Banimpire and Kevin Manning led one and a half furlongs out, but could not quicken as well as Nahrain and Announce.
[Selkirk’s daughter Nahrain also won the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Stakes and was runner-up in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. She is the dam, with her first foal, of the UAE, German and Australian Group 1 winner Benbatl (Dubawi)]
Kate shows a great love for France
WILLIAM Buick had a memorable day at Longchamp where he also landed the Group 1 Total Prix Marcel Boussac on board Elusive Kate, who was landing a hat-trick in France this season.
Trained by John Gosden, Elusive Kate came to France at the end of July and won the Listed Prix Six Perfections at Deauville. She was back at the same track the following month and lifted the Group 3 Prix du Calvados. The filly is partly owned by Gosden’s wife, Rachel Hood.
Gosden said after the race, which he won with Ryafan in 1996 and five years later with Sulk: “We might think about the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, and come back for the Pouliches here next year.”
[Elusive Native won the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes in England and twice was successful in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild at Deauville. She only had a single foal at stud]
Tangerine goes all the way in sprint
ENGLISH and Irish-trained sprinters filled the first three places in the Qatar Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp.
Tangerine Trees made virtually all the running in the five-furlong dash to give Tom Eaves a first Group 1 success. The pair held on to beat Secret Asset by a short neck, with the Edward Lynam-trained Sole Power and Keagan Lathan just a nose away in third.
Tangerine Trees was winning his third sprint this year. Bryan Smart has won two Group 1 events as a trainer, and the other came when Cash Asmussen partnered Sil Sila to victory in the 1996 Prix de Diane. Eaves said: “It’s fantastic to be here on Arc day, but it is only beginning to sink in that I have won a Group 1 race. This is a very special day, and the horse was perfect.”
[This was the biggest win in the career of Tangerine Trees, a son of Mind Games. He won 15 races, including at the age of 11, and his half-brother Alpha Delphini (Captain Gerrard) was also a Group 1 winner of the Nunthorpe Stakes]