Looked to me like there were only 2 Grade 1 animals in the Arc there - miles clear of the rest. It will be interesting to see what the jockeys say about the ground, I thought Minnie Hauk was home and hosed but just got nabbed in a dour last half furlong.
Another stat for Barney. Long time since a horse finished second in the Arc and won it the following year
Well I never saw Daryz coming. His early season form would not have seen him as a serious contender but fair play to the trainer for getting him to peak at the right time. Listening to Graffard before the race I knew that Quisisana was very much the second string and that Daryz was the stable number 1. Probably why she drifted late on after seeing support yesterday. It was low numbers that dominated and I don't know why Sosie ended up so far off the pace from a good draw. He seemed to drop back badly in the early stages and stayed on for a never nearer 3rd. 1,2,3,5 draws filled the first four places. Aventure was bitterly disappointing and she drifted like a boat in the betting today. As for Kalpana she ran OK but probably hasn't come forward much this year. A lot more ran poorly than well today. Byzantine Dream ran well from box 15 and I think he can be proud of his effort albeit at a fair distance behind the first two. Probably would have been third if drawn lower. Minnie Hauk deserves a lot of credit having begun the season with a fairly modest rating and winning some ugly races before going on to progress into a serious contender for the Arc. She nearly pulled it off. Overall though, I think there was a fair amount of dross in this year's Arc and I have yet to see any 2yo who might develop into an Arc contender next season. I had to laugh at Johnnie Murtagh tipping up Aventure with the reasoning that she has strengthened up from two to three. Did they sneak her into the Arc as a 2YO then?
