Question 1
Geldings in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe?
Question 2
What do you make of the 2-year-old programme in France?
Question 3
What can be done to increase the number of runners?
Question 4
Where will you be watching the Arc this year?
Edouard de Rothschild
1. I think geldings are at an advantage over both fillies and colts. So, we could accept them in the Arc but with a penalty.
2. I would try to find a race like the Prix de la Salamandre, which was run over 1,400 metres in September at Longchamp. We made the mistake of pushing the second part of the programme back to autumn. On this point, the old ones were right. If we could have kept the 1,200 metres of the Morny, then 1,400 metres at Longchamp in September and then the 1,600 metres of the Grand Critérium, it would be perfect. But the Irish have taken the place of the Salamandre with the National Stakes and it is difficult to go back.
3. The lack of runners is an expression of the lack of owners, the lack of depth of ownership in France and internationally. At the same time, we could try to enhance the value of the very big handicaps. It’s not easy because while in England or the United States, owners are very motivated to participate in big handicaps with good horses, in France, it seems like a punishment.
4. I will be watching the race with my family from the box I occupy at the racecourse. I don’t have any particular habits, no rituals. I just go through emotions, and that’s the goal. An owner is first and foremost a collector in search of emotions.
Gérald Mossé
1. I don’t think such a measure would improve the race and its standard. For me, it’s in the same vein as the Epsom Derby, it’s a selection race. It is reasonable to protect these races to promote breeding. Geldings have plenty of races at their disposal.
2. The 2-year-old programme is not badly done, and you shouldn’t look for the reason for the low number of colts at the start in its design. It is rather explained by too few colts bred for it. On the other hand, colts arrive later and later in training and that doesn’t help matters!
3. I know Japan and Hong Kong well and even though, of course, they are very different environments from ours, limiting the number of horses per stable naturally encourages the number of runners. If ten colts are spread over ten stables instead of two, you will have more runners, it goes without saying.
4. To be honest with you, I wouldn’t mind not having time to find a place in the stands, because that would mean I have runners to saddle! And then, there are sales the day before the race, so who knows!
Gilles Barbarin
1. It would be a good thing to have them at the start. This year is exceptional, and we can’t only argue from this example, but why deprive ourselves of good horses at the start of a big race? Admit that a run with Calandagan, Goliath - even if he couldn’t have run in the end - and even Irésine would look great! The Arc is no more a selection race than the King George or the International Stakes in which City of Troy and Calandagan put on the greatest show of the season. And if there are too many contenders, then let the entire horses be given priority.
2. The problem is not the programme, but the trainers. Where are the horses? I agree that the 5-furlong races are not designed for our colts, but it seems that neither are the 2,000-metre trips, since there are four French-trained entries among the 43 entries for the Critérium de Saint-Cloud.
3. An effort has been made and we can see it in particular at Auteuil. It’s still a red-herring, in my opinion. There are interesting bets on races with few runners and not enough effort is made to promote them and optimise their positioning by offering them on races with 9 or 10 runners.
4. In the new Longchamp, on Arc Day, you have to choose: the ring or the track! If you want, like me, to see the horses turn and see them enter the track from the stands, be prepared. And watch out for falls at the arrival of the escalators. So I’ll be on the track side so as not to miss the most interesting part of the show. And don’t forget to take your binoculars: it’s necessary, at Longchamp.
Alain de Royer Dupré
1. Personally, I understand that people might want it, but it seems to me that it would be heresy. It’s a race that has a selection, breeding value. A gelding has a huge advantage: he can race much longer, because he’s lighter, he takes on less character. When you have a good 3-year-old, to see him get beaten by a horse that had a fault and now has, dare I say, an edge, I find that a shame. Or we have to admit that the Arc is no longer a selection race.
2. It’s not by increasing the prize money in 2-year-old races that we’ll make horses more precocious. It’s their breeding, the way they’ve been bred and trained that makes them precocious colts. If a precocious colt stays too long in pre-training, where he will lose time, it becomes impossible to make up for lost time. In short, it’s up to the breeders and owners to decide. If they send their colts into training before the cold weather, even if they leave them alone in winter, if they have already worked, if they have already accelerated, they will be ready faster a few months later. They will have a head start on the others.
3. The obvious solution is to limit the number of horses per trainer, as in Asia, but that’s not our culture at all. But I don’t see how we can increase the number of runners without that. And then there’s the fear of the handicapper, which creates extravagant situations. It seems to me that it would be more effective to establish clear common rules to set ratings. On the other hand, the big stables don’t necessarily need to compete in handicaps, even small handicaps, to make their horses win and deprive more modest structures of success. You can understand why a trainer wants to look after his statistics, but you have to take a step back.
4. I haven’t been a trainer for two years, but I’ve only seen one Arc in normal conditions because I was initially a consultant on Equidia. There are a lot of people and if you’re lucky enough to be welcomed into a box, which can happen to me, it’s still the best place you can find. But at Longchamp, there’s room, plenty of different places to get by, if you know the racecourse well. When we raced the Arc at Chantilly, it was a real problem, on the other hand! We were on top of each other. But it’s a superb race, that’s why we mustn’t spoil it with geldings.