4pm Dane delivers Arc dream for Germany
Tony Paley: German filly Danedream was a hugely impressive winner of the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. Supplemented into the race at the start of the week, she lead home a fillies' 1-2-3 with Shareta and British hope Snow Fairy filling the minor places.
The last German-trained Arc winner had been Star Appeal, ridden by Greville Starkey at odds of 119-1 in 1975, but there was no fluke about the 20-1 shot's victory. Fancied runners Sarafina, Galikova and Workforce, who met trouble at the start, never figured and Aidan O'Brien's main runner, So You Think, ran on late into fourth spot.
Ridden by Andrasch Starke, the Peter Schiergen-trained Danedream sprinted clear inside the final furlong to add to her two Group One victories in her homeland.
Schiergen said: "This is my best moment in racing. I don't believe it - she was such an easy winner. It's fantastic and she is the best horse I have trained. It's a great moment. She is a small filly with a big, big heart and there's no better race to win. I have trained some Group winners, but she is the greatest filly I have ever trained. She won her last two races very easily, but I didn't think she would be such an easy winner. This is a really big day for German racing."
Starke said: "It was a dream for me just to ride today in this race. I knew the filly could put up a great performance but there was a lot of competition in the race and good horses. In the last two furlongs she just gave me a great feeling and I was just dreaming. I don't know what has happened. It's a dream come true."
Frankie Dettori said of his mount, Snow Fairy: "She ran a super race. A furlong and a half out I thought we had a big chance but when the winner kicked that was that."
Trainer Ed Dunlop added: "I'm very proud to be third in an Arc, it was a great run and she was the leading older horse in the race. It was probably the race of her life. We ran with a view to coming from off the pace and I was delighted with her effort. That was only her fourth run, so hopefully she'll go back to Japan for the race she won last year or maybe even the Japan Cup or Hong Kong. She stays in training next year."
O'Brien said of So You Think: "I thought he ran very well. He was coming home very well and it was the first time he'd run over that trip for us. He's a big cruiser and I think he would handle the dirt [Breeders' Cup] no problem, but the boys will have to discuss it before we decide what to do next."
So You Think's jockey Seamie Heffernan commented: "He had a very wide draw, so you had to make an early decision, and I wanted to make sure there was something left at the finish. I thought it was a good run."
3pm Dream result for Simcock as Ahead denies Goldikova in Foret
Tony Paley: David Simcock's Dream Ahead got up in the final stride to deny outstanding mare Goldikova in a thrilling Prix de la Foret at Longchamp.
Winning rider William Buick said: "David has trained this horse to perfection, it's not been easy the whole way through. There's no point saying David's a good trainer because everybody knows that already. Everything panned out today. I just wish Goldikova wasn't second because I'm a big fan, but Dream Ahead was a worthy winner, the best horse won the race. I always said he'd be better in a good race because when he gets to the front he does nothing. Today he went a head up and started hanging left."
Winning owner Khalifa Dasmal said: "To beat a horse like Goldikova is unbelievable and we'd have been happy to have finished second. He's obviously a very good horse and he's proved it over several distances and on different types of ground. I've sold part of him to Ballylinch Stud. I know it's a shame to retire him, but what would he do next year apart from winning the same races that he's already won."
John O'Connor, owner of the stud, said: "He won't run next year and I'd have thought this might be his last race, but we need to have a discussion and there's no rush to do that. He still has options like Hong Kong, and the Breeders' Cup is not out of the question, but we need to have a re-group."
Trainer Freddy Head said of Goldikova: "I think the mileage is starting to catch up with her maybe, we will have to see."
2.45pm Dettori delivers landmark win on Dabirsim
Tony Paley: Frankie Dettori recorded his 500th career Group-race winner as Dabirsim came from last to first to to win the Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp.
Dettori said: "It's unbelievable to ride 500 Group winners, it's an astonishing number so it's a big, big moment for me, and I've been very lucky to ride some very good horses. He will definitely make a Guineas horse, without a doubt. He's a superstar. When the gap came he took it, he was electric. He's the best two-year-old I have ridden. He's got tremendous pace and a great finish."
Trainer Christophe Ferland said: "Frankie was playing with my nerves a bit. He was six or eight lengths behind at the furlong post, but he's got a lot of speed and he quickened well to get back into the race. We haven't decided about next year. He'll be entered in the French and English Guineas. He can run on a straight course or around a bend so it doesn't matter."
2.15pm Gosden and Buick have arresting day with Boussac victory
Greg Wood: An interesting day for John Gosden and William Buick, who arrived at Longchamp sans their passports after they were arrested when their plane landed in France this morning. It seems that it had flown a little too close to a "secret nuclear site" and the gendarmes wanted to check that the occupants were not spies.
"We were met by two giggling gendarmes in a truck," Gosden said. "They had been told by air traffic control, who must have been bored out of their minds, that the plane coming in had gone close to a secret nuclear site. Now you don't really have those on the coast between Brighton and Margate do you, it's the same sort of thing, but anyway we got into the truck and went down to the police station, and being good old English we surrendered our passports in order to get here. We're looking forward to trying to get them back.
"It was a real Welcome to France moment, but we use that airport all the time. The young men were giggling but they had to do it as air traffic control had told them to do it. They wanted to know if we were spies and had been taking pictures of this nuclear site. I said, 'do we look like we're from North Korea.'"
The pair celebrated their freedom with victory for Elusive Kate in the Total Prix Marcel Boussac. Buick was happy to go to the front from the start and although she was hanging over to the other side of the track in the closing stages, it was not enough to stop her scoring decisively from Irish raider Fire Lily, with Zantenda only third.
Gosden's wife Rachel Hood part-owns the horse and said: "She's a beautiful filly and I'm only sorry that our partners from America couldn't be here. It was unusual to see her drift, but she's only a baby and was trying to do her best."
Gosden himself said: "She's a pretty good filly. She ran right-handed at Deauville but she got confused in the downhill section [here)], the ground is a little quicker there. She changed her legs and ended up in the middle of the track. You shouldn't win from there and I thought the favourite should have won. She likes coming to France, so we'll come back here for the Guineas and she may go to Churchill Downs for the Breeders' Cup."
1.10pm Trees fells Abbaye foes
The great record of overseas raiders in the Qatar Prix de l'Abbaye was preserved as Bryan Smart's Tangerine Trees made just about every yard of the running. Having blasted out of the stalls by Tom Eaves in the middle of the track, he had Mar Adentro for company until the final furlong.
Jane Chapple-Hyam's Secret Asset and the Eddie Lynam-trained Sole Power flashed home for minor honours, but it was Beverley Bullet winner Tangerine Tress who held on for an outstanding triumph.
The six-year-old had won at Newmarket on his first start of the season but flopped badly at Haydock and Ascot before bouncing back to form last time out, giving away weight to all of his rivals. Sent off at 14-1, Tangerine Trees became the ninth British-trained winner of the Abbaye in 10 years. Nunthorpe winner Margot Did never got involved under Jamie Spencer, while Prohibit found things happening too quickly.
A delighted Eaves, registering his first Group One success, said: "It's brilliant - I can't really believe it at the minute.
"He's progressed all the time and to win, that is just icing on the cake. I knew he was very quick but he got there very easily and I just tried to hang on to him for as long as I could and kick for home then. To win a first Group One is very special."
Joint-owner Pat Barrell said: "We hoped he'd run very well but we're only small owners and it's an absolute thrill to come here - I can't explain it. He's a very, very fast horse and Tom gave him a marvellous ride."
Chapple-Hyam said of runner-up Secret Asset: "I'm absolutely thrilled. He's run a colossal race. He might have been a massive price but at least we've been competitive. I would think he will go to Dubai for the Carnival now."
Keagan Latham, rider of Sole Power, said: "As small as he is, he's as tough as nails and when I eventually got out he absolutely flew home." Lynam added: "We were possibly a shade unlucky in running. This was supposed to be his last race of the year but after a run like that we'll have a think about it now." PA
12.50pm Bliss for Doumen after Kadran victory
Kasbah Bliss came with a withering late run under Gerald Mosse to claim the Qatar Prix du Cadran at Longchamp. The Francois Doumen-trained nine-year-old was last turning for home, but Mosse did not panic and got to work with a couple of furlongs to run. Doumen's veteran then made stealthy progress in the middle of the pack and quickened up to score readily once switched wide.
Kasbah Bliss (7-2 joint-favourite) had finished in the frame in the last three renewals of the two-and-a-half-mile Group One, and was sent off favourite to win a World Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival two years ago. He disappointed in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot earlier in the season but was back to his brilliant best in his homeland, easing to a comfortable victory over Tres Rock Danon and Ley Hunter.
Mosse said: "I had plenty of horse under me and had a lovely run from behind. When I came through he showed a lot of power. I've ridden him before and know he has a nice turn of foot. He won very well."
Doumen added: "Running over hurdles taught him to breath properly, and that made him stronger and able to run in Group One races likes this. He has kept the knack of wanting to win and come through the others. When he can get through, that is when he is at his best. He won easily. Mosse said to me after the race he didn't think he'd win that easily. He said when he brought him through he just went.
"It reminds me of The Fellow in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham. He had to run in the race a few times before he won it. It's the same sort of feeling. I hope to get invited back to Hong Kong as he ran a brilliant race in the Vase there two years ago over a mile and a half. He's still got that turn of foot. He won't be going jumping again." PA
Today's best bets, by Greg Wood
It is another blistering day here in Paris with the kind of temperature promised that, in August, sends the locals scurrying to the coast. For this one afternoon of the year, though, they will head to the Bois de Bolougne instead, and Longchamp will have a proper crowd in the stands for the first time since Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe day in 2010.
The identity of the horse that they will send off as favourite for the big race this afternoon is still in doubt, with Sarafina and So You Think both looking like credible candidates to head the market. There is no news either about Reliable Man (3.15), which is good news for his supporters as it means that he is still in the race.
I've thought that he looked the likely Arc winner since the Prix Niel here three weeks ago and assuming that Alain de Royer-Dupre feels that he will act on the ground and lets him take his chance, I can see no reason to abandon him now. In fact, the uncertainty over his participation seems to have worked its way into his price, and Reliable Man's current odds of around 12-1 are simply too big for a lightly raced Niel winner.
One other runner worth a saver is Danedream, a German-trained three-year-old filly who has made her way into the field almost unnoticed, despite having won Group One events on her last two starts by a combined total of 11 lengths. She has a good draw in two, and is a decent each-way price at 25-1.
Racing will be underway soon, with the improving Ley Hunter (12.10) the pick in the Prix du Cadran, while Wizz Kid (12.45) has a big chance in the Prix de l'Abbaye. Dabirsim (1.55) is an obvious pick in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, while the extraordinary Goldikova (2.30) should take the Prix de la Foret on her final start in France.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2011/oct/02/prix-de-larc-de-triomphe-live-october-2-2011
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