Aidan O’Brien’s star filly Minnie Hauk came agonisingly close to winning Sunday’s €5 million Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe only to be edged out by the French horse Daryz in a frantic finish at Longchamp in Paris.
Just seven Irish-trained horses have ever won Europe’s most valuable race and for much of the straight Minnie Hauk and jockey Christophe Soumillon looked like justifying 9-4 favouritism.
However, the English, Irish and Yorkshire Oaks heroine couldn’t resist a late thrust by Daryz who scored for jockey Mikael Barzalona and France’s new dominant trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. The 12-1 winner scored by a head and it was five-and-a-half lengths back to Sosie in third.
Rain-softened ground had been a pre-race concern for O’Brien’s Ballydoyle team but their confidence had been boosted with a Group One double through Diamond Necklace and Puerto Rico in a pair of two-year-old-contests.
RM Block
In the end, Soumillon insisted ground wasn’t an issue after enjoying a perfect passage through the race and O’Brien didn’t rule out a four-year-old campaign for Minnie Hauk in 2026.
“She ran a great race, what can you say, she ran really well,” he said. “Christophe didn’t say anything negative when he came in. I’m not sure if she’ll run again this year. We’ll get her home and see how she is and see what the lads want to do.”
Soumillon had the look of a man not quite sure how he was beaten but with no excuses to reach for.
“When I feel Mikael coming in the last 200 [metres] I kept a little for the end and we go together, but his horse had a strong dash, and he also loves the ground. He catches me on the line, but my feeling is she ran a great race today,” he summed up.
Ultimately it proved to be an evocative victory for Daryz, who carried the famous colours of the late Aga Khan who died in February, aged 88.
Daryz is a product of his famed breeding organisation, a son of the outstanding 2009 Arc winner Sea The Stars, out of another Group One winner Daryakana. His daughter Princess Zahra accepted the award for the fifth Arc winner bred by her father.
It was a first Arc for Barzalona who first burst on the scene when landing the Epsom Derby on Pour Moi in 2011 as a teenager. Now he has secured the other twin traditional high point on the European calendar.
In the long-term, perhaps the greatest significance of all will be how Graffard’s first Arc sets a seal on a superb 2025 for the 48-year-old Frenchman, who promises to challenge O’Brien’s hegemony in Europe.
Daryz was an 11th Group One of the year for Graffard whose two star older middle-distance performers were at home in Chantilly. As geldings, the last two King George winners Calandagan and Goliath are barred from running in the Arc.
The massive pot assures Graffard of a first trainers’ title in France and underlines the emergence of a top European racing force.
Daryz advertised his talents after a remarkable transformation since finishing last in York’s Juddmonte International in August. The colt was also beaten by the Japanese star Crois De Nord in an Arc trial three weeks before.
“When I was planning to run at York, I said to Princess Zahra ‘we are not going to win, but we need to toughen him up for the autumn’ and I think the defeat at York helped us to win today because my horse was, for the first time, very professional and mature,” Graffard said.
“To win the Arc today in these colours is just crazy. In the past, it was just a dream, but now it’s happening to me,” he added.
Daryz comprehensively reversed Trial form with Croix Du Nord who took over the lead coming out of the back straight and looked set to fire in the straight only to fold tamely.
Jessica Harrington’s Hotazhell accompanied Croix Du Nord into the straight but faded to 10th, two places ahead of John Murphy’s hope White Birch. O’Brien’s second hope, Los Angeles, third a year ago, was last.
It was a much happier outcome for Harrington in the following Prix de l’Opera when Shane Foley guided Barnavara to hugely valuable Group One glory.
“She wears her heart on her sleeve and has done it the hard way. We’ve been saying all year she’s very, very good and she’s just been filling her frame. That’s a good trip for her at the moment,” Foley said.
