Qatar Prix du Cadran (Group 1)
NO doubt about the biggest story of Arc Saturday at Longchamp – the defeat of Aidan O’Brien’s seemingly invincible Champion Stayer, Scandinavia, in the Group 1 Qatar Prix du Cadran.
The race was billed beforehand as the crowning of a multiple Group 1 victor and that is exactly how it turned out.
It’s just that the winner’s identity was Caballo De Mar, defending both his Cadran title and an unbeaten record at this venue, rather than Scandinavia, who had finished 61 lengths in front of him when the pair clashed over the same two-and-a-half-mile trip in the Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup in June.
The race played out exactly as expected for 90% of its course, with Scandinavia racing in second place behind his stablemate, Queenstown, who he had beaten into second when landing his fifth Group 1 in the Irish St Leger three weeks earlier.
Jockey Oisin Murphy was able to sit exactly where he wanted aboard Caballo De Mar, in third place with his eyes firmly fixed on the hind quarters of the 5/1 on favourite.
Things began to go a little off-script when Scandinavia had to be ridden along quite firmly to take over in front with a quarter of a mile to race with Caballo De Mar far from shaken off, just over a length behind towards the outside.
Caballo De Mar moved past at the furlong marker and, just for a second, seemed set for a comfortable success.
But Scandinavia wasn’t going down without a fight and his deficit, which may have reached as much as half a length, began to contract.
Asked for maximum effort, Caballo De Mar responded well but began to edge right, carrying his adversary toward the inside.
Just as a line was approaching and with a narrow upset victory assured, Scandinavia made contact with the running rail, but his jockey, Ryan Moore, never stopped riding. The official margin was a short neck.
Moore unsurprisingly lodged an objection and the result was only confirmed once the stewards had come to the conclusion that the interference came too late to affect the result.
An overjoyed winning trainer, George Scott, said: “I’m emotional because my horse is such a character and it’s so special to beat Scandinavia after being beaten two furlongs by him at Royal Ascot.
“Caballo De Mar loves it here and was showing all the right signs at home so I felt that if there was ever an opportunity to beat the favourite it would be today.” O’Brien said: “Scandinavia ran very well but it’s been a long season for him. We had originally planned to end his campaign after the Irish Leger but then we changed our minds and the ground today is a little slower than he would like.”
Queenstown was a modest third.
Qatar Prix de Royallieu (Group 1)
SATURDAY’S other Group 1, the Qatar Prix de Royallieu for fillies and mares over a mile and six furlongs, saw a tight finish fought out between the locally-trained favourite, Sunly, and Fairy Glen, a five-year-old daughter of Farhh trained in Newmarket by Simon and Ed Crisford.
On her second start back from a long summer break, Fairy Glen prevailed by a short neck, having been given a perfectly-judged waiting ride by Mickael Barzalona, though there was a sting in the tail for the jockey as he was hit with a two-day whip ban which rules him out of riding Calandagan on British Champions Day next Saturday.
Ed Crisford confirmed afterwards that the winner will be off to the paddocks at the end of the year. She could run once more before then, with the Group 1 British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes a possibility.
EVEN allowing for Francis Graffard’s huge Sunday double, many might argue that George Scott, who saddled the Arc second, was the trainer of the weekend.
He initiated a Saturday double of his own when the oh-so-narrow Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes runner-up Wimbledon Hawkeye continued his excellent form since switching to Scott in July when proving a comfy half length too strong for Graffard’s Zaydann in the extended one-mile, one-furlong Group 2 Qatar Prix Dollar.
After his charge had provided jockey Christophe Soumillon with the first of his four weekend winners, Scott said: “I was a bit worried beforehand because Wimbledon Hawkeye was so fresh and even tried to kick me, but he stamped his authority on the race and late on Christophe was almost trying to hold him back.”
“Sheikh Nasser [bin Hamad al Khalifa of Bahrain, the owner] bought him with the newly-upgraded Group 1 Bahrain International Trophy [November 13th] in mind and that’s where he’ll go next after having a week out in the paddock when he gets back home.”
Fatality for Fallen Angel
The one-mile Group 2 Qatar Prix Daniel Wildenstein was blighted by the fatal injury suffered by the multiple Group 1 winning-heroine, Fallen Angel.
The accident that befell the second favourite early in the home straight ought to have left the way clear for the odds-on Quddwah to complete a fine afternoon for the Crisford yard. But he ended up having to settle for the bridesmaid’s spot in this race for the second consecutive year as, allowed the uncontested lead he so craves, Ralph Beckett’s Qirat got his head in front for just the second time since his sensational 150/1 Sussex Stakes success 14 months earlier with a comprehensive two-and-a-half-length win.
Jabracadabra has the magic
It was an Arc meeting to forget for Aidan O’Brien and the mood was set right from the word go for the Ballydoyle operation when Pierre Bonnard, his 11/10 favourite for the opening one-mile, seven-furlong Group 2 Qatar Prix de Chaudenay, could beat only two home.
The two-length winner here was the unheralded Cracksman gelding, Jabracadabra, who was giving trainer Amy Murphy a second Group 2 triumph of her first full season since moving her string from Newmarket to Chantilly. It was also the biggest win to-date for 23-year-old Belgian-born jockey Ebbe Verhestraeten, who had only ridden out his apprentice claim a week earlier.
Incredibly, Amy Murphy was one of only two local trainers, alongside Francis Graffard, to saddle a pattern winner over a weekend which saw the score in that sphere read: Ireland 2, France 3, Britain 6.