It might be your eyes. Turftrax reported 0.5mm of overnight rain and they had the going as mostly Good at 7:25am today.
Bookmaker friendly results up until the odds on shot in the Arabian World Cup - won by the sponsor's Arabian.
Brilliant from Rossa Ryan. Took total advantage of the draw sitting behind the leader. Resisted the temptation to go for home early in the straight and Bluestocking dug deep for him. I just wish I had done Aventure each way at 33/1 ante post - second to Bluestocking again. I thought Bluestocking would go to Ascot.
I do not know if anyone else has noticed but this has been a poor weekend for hold up horses at Longchamp. Most of the winners have been in the first half dozen (when the field was bigger than that!). Ramatuelle is about the only one I can remember coming from mid-division other than Camille Pissarro that went last to first.
Was the ground slower than they thought? Always seems to be a bit of a lottery about the going description.
I actually think the ground was quicker than they thought. The official going reports from France Galop have been unreliable for years. That is why I go and look at what Turftrax give as the going. Their map of the track is colour coded with their view of the going from having walked the track and taken readings. In their opinion much of the track was Good today whilst the official FG going was Souple (Soft). The time for the Arc was six seconds slower than last year because of the moderate early pace but it was faster than every other Arc since Enable in 2018.
Plenty of non-runners on the day took a bit of the shine off things, especially the concluding bumper with 4 (including Al Arivee) withdrawn.
Norn Iron beaten by one of Fergal's - but entitled to have needed the run after 530 days off the track.
The Arc is done and dusted, the leaves are beginning to turn and thoughts are turning to the National Hunt season. It is therefore ludicrous that Champions Day is still just under 2 weeks away and just 2 weeks before the Breeders Cup. The timing of this remains all wrong, it needs re-inventing. Put it mid-summer around the King George meeting FFS. It is a non-event in its current slot and will remain so.
Intrepide Sud is a very talented horse, but he has breathing issues. The Nick Brown syndicate has had to be very patient with that horse, and deserve a good day like yesterday. Another newcomer to the Derham yard starts today for the Middleham Park Racing crew.
Al Arrivee, on pedigree, looks most exciting dosen't she. Half-sister to the dual CGC winner, Al Boum Photo.
I felt the losing jockey made 3 errors. First he lay out of his ground, the winner didn't, second, because of that, he timed his run wrongly and won the race at 7.75F, the winner didn't, and third he was hardly riding a strong finish which the winning jockey was. He was outjockeyed at all stages of the race: race reading (foresight), timing and strength in the finish. I didn't back her by the way. I was hoping Simmering would do it.
