It's funny isn't it Oddy. pN can fill in the detail but they basically got him for nothing. I think he fell over in his first or second year at Sandringham and injured himself so had a year off, and after that the momentum wasn't there from the breeders. As regards the Royal Stud they don't seem to have sent a mare to him in his last season at the stud, so they'd lost interest. Earlier they at most sent 2 mares a year but none of their big hitters and their best offspring was Tactician. But Alec Head sent this Anabaa mare called Trevise who was no great shakes as a race-filly but comes from Nelson Bunker Hunt's Trillion family that includes that very tough filly Triptych. Now the Royal Stud has Al Kazeem. Like most things it's a confidence thing and most people had lost confidence in Motivator AND anyway one swallow doesn't make a summer. We'll see.
Those of us that did not get home from Paris until 5:30 because the M1 was shut and they had to drive round the M25 and use the A1 instead missed all the discussion post the Arc. Treve proved that she really is an excellent filly, defying an unfavourable draw and routing a field that I would only describe as fair. The burst of acceleration that brought her from the back of the pack to a five length lead was reminiscent of Dancing Brave. Before the race the local TV had been focussing on all the Japanese fans with their flags cheering Orfevre and Kizuna. Immediately that Thierry Jarnet crossed the line, a group of French fans unfurled a large tricolor and started waving it madly. She won so easily that I think even Dettori with a pot on his ankle could have steered her home! Perhaps he will get a chance next year. I think that Christophe Soumillon overdid the waiting tactics on Orfevre in his desperation not to be in front too long; but it would have made no difference as Criquette Head-Maarek’s filly with “six gears” was different class and I expect that her five race career will now be drawing comparisions with that of Zarkava. I am not sure that Intello actually saw out the distance (which had been my concern long before the race) and Kizuna never really threatened in finishing fourth. It was surprising to see that Orfevre paid 30/100 for a place on the PMU. The Japanese obviously forgot to corner that market! It is unlikely that Treve will ever pay nearly 5/1 again. Thierry Jarnet was certainly the ladies man on the sixth of October, completing a double on Moonlight Cloud in the Prix de la Forêt. She is not short of a few gears herself.
After crawling for the best part of the race it's not too surprising that the last 3f turned into a sprint and Treve can surely sprint. Had the race been run at a furious pace it would have been interesting to see whether she could have produced a finish like that. IMHO that is the one question over the form. Moonlight Cloud didn't start moving until inside the last furlong. If Treve covered the last furlong as quickly as her that would be incredible.
Actually, the only horse to do a faster final 600m than Moonlight Cloud was Maarek and the only horse to do a faster final 200m than Moonlight Cloud was Maarek. The fastest final 400m of the day was Moonlight Cloud. Sectionals courtesy of Timeform
Treve's last furlong was just 0.03 secs slower than Moonlight Cloud's and 0.33 secs slower tham Maarek in the Abbaye.
This year's Arc was 5 secs faster than last year. The going this year was soft (good to soft according to Timeform). Last year it was heavy. That makes if difficult to compare the two races by the clock. The clock proved useful in the trials. Treve had the fastest despite being on "training exercise".
Of the Arc Trials, the Prix Vermeille is always going to be the best actual race because it is a Group 1 and a number of the fillies that ran were running to win that day rather than just warming up for the Arc. Plus the absence of anyone making the pace in the Prix Niel saw them in a blanket finish as it turned into a sprint and the Japanese did not run a pacemaker in the Prix Foy this season. For what it is worth, I concur with the view that it was only “good to soft” on Sunday. I saw in The Racing Post that Treve has provisionally been awarded a rating of 130 for her performance, which lends me to believe that the handicappers have taken into account the fact that it did turn into a sprint in the straight and the French filly clearly had the best turn of foot. Going into the race, the top-rated runner was Orfevre on 125 and they have taken the view that he did not run to that mark because in pure handicapping terms, Treve was five pounds better than him but in receipt of the sex allowance. An interesting footnote that I will add here: In the run up to the race, there was much discussion about how no horse had ever been defeated in the Arc and subsequently gone on to win it. On Sunday, I was talking to somebody at Longchamp who backed the 1988 winner Tony Bin at 20/1 when he floored Mtoto in Paris. In 1987, Italian champion Tony Bin had been runner up to Trempolino in the Arc as a four year old.
