Arc de Triomphe: Big-race reaction and analysis, where now for Ace Impact, Westover and Continuous?

Ace Impact – the clue was in the name really.

And, with the almost blindingly obvious benefit of hindsight, the clues were in the form book, the pedigree book and the all-important betting books too, Jean-Claude Rouget’s unbeaten son of Cracksman having been roared home in Sunday’s sun-kissed Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as a popular market leader.

The Parisian locals have been made to wait long enough for a Classic colt to bring the house down in their finest all-age middle-distance contest – Europe’s finest all-age middle-distance contest – as Ace Impact became the first French-based three-year-old male to claim Arc glory since Rail Link in 2006.

Wonderful fillies Zarkava and Treve have flown the flag as home-based three-year-old winners since then, but Ace Impact has looked something out of the ordinary since a belated debut win in a 10-furlong maiden on the Polytrack at the Riviera track of Cagnes-Sur-Mer on January 26.

Having risen to Prix du Jockey Club victor by the first Sunday in June, he was from that day given the archetypal French Arc prep, a Group 2 at Deauville in mid-August astutely picked over a potential trip to Ireland where he’d have met with English and Irish Derby hero Auguste Rodin.

Clearly a wise move and while Aidan O’Brien’s Irish Champion Stakes winner not representing Ballydoyle at ParisLongchamp (a Breeders’ Cup Turf bid prioritised over everything else) may come into question at some stage given the prevailing conditions on the day, there is no point looking to remove any gloss from what Ace Impact did; which was to complete his ascension to bona fide champion.

The manner in which he did so will live long in the memory, streaking down the wide outside of a quality-packed field and even allowing an ecstatic Cristian Demuro the luxury of a celebratory salute approaching the famous winning post.

Here was a horse not just unproven over the Arc distance of 12 furlongs, but completely stepping into the unknown in regards to trip. No horse untried beyond 10 furlongs had won the Arc since the turn of the millennium and yet stamina – or lack thereof – never looked in the mind of Demuro, the experienced 31-year-old rider claiming his second victory in the great race having partnered the Rouget-trained Sottsass as the four-year-old made no mistake on his second bite at cherry in 2020.

Sottsass had bumped into Waldgeist and Enable first time around but Demuro and Ace Impact were in no mood to be denied.

A few pre-race antics may have given one or two blind favourite-backers sweaty palms but it takes a special talent to win an Arc the way that Ace Impact did and most of those come with the odd quirk.

The firey colt gave the impression he was prepared to smash heads together before the race and yet there was a rare coolness about the way Demuro executed the widely-predicted plan.

Settle, stalk, pounce. It was over in a flash, which is just how it should be on lively ground in this most prestigious prize.

Paddington can win the QEII doing handstands and Auguste Rodin the BC Turf by clear daylight, but if you weren’t already acquainted then please allow me to introduce your 2023 champion three-year-old: Ace Impact.

Surely no more clues required.

So what of the vanquished?

Saturday wins for Sea Silk Road and Trueshan, combined with Rosallion landing the Jean-Luc Lagardere and Opera Singer the Marcel Boussac earlier on the Arc-day card, must have given connections of the British and Irish raiders a shot of confidence ahead of the big one, but nothing could really lay a glove on the dazzling, French-trained winner.

Westover was second best on the day, as he was in the Sheema Classic in March, the Coronation Cup in June and the King George in July.

He was arguably second best in Desert Crown’s Derby last summer too, though he finished third after a troubled trip, and yet referring to this dual Group 1 winner as something of a ‘nearly horse’ would be extremely harsh.

Himself an occasionally brutish son of Frankel, known for throwing his weight around at Ralph Beckett’s Kimpton Down Stables, he has in fairness looked a more mature horse at four and his remarkable consistency this season must be applauded, when you consider he bumped into the world’s greatest in Equinox at Meydan, a scintillating Emily Upjohn at Epsom and peak Hukum at Ascot.

Rob Hornby had plotted to hug the ParisLongchamp paint having been handed the inside stall and, like Demuro, he too can’t have any regrets over how it panned out in practice. He sat in touch just behind the first wave of rivals – à la Dettori on Enable in 2017 at Chantilly, and Dettori on Enable in 2018 here at Longchamp – before launching his challenge with a couple of furlongs to run.

The likeable Hornby, who enjoyed his first Group 1 victory on the Beckett-trained Scope at this meeting just two years ago, could be forgiven for briefly becoming very excited as he pushed Westover into the lead approaching the final furlong, but the three-year-old came to take his measure just a moment later and Westover could only cling onto the runner-up spot from a fast-finishing Onesto.

It hadn’t been Onesto’s year until this point, a largely unconsidered 50/1 chance this time around having finished tenth as a quietly-fancied 11/1 shot 12 months back.

The Irish Champion Stakes flop relished the return to a mile and a half and would have finished second in another stride or two. He could meet the runner-up again at Santa Anita next month, though he’s also in the Champion Stakes at Ascot and has had a quiet enough campaign to suggest he could potentially do both as he clearly goes on any ground too.

The Japanese-trained mare Through Seven Seas, bidding to give her Arc-starved nation an overdue first ever win in the race, was last seen pushing Equinox to within a neck in the top-class Takarazuka Kinen on home soil in June and reportedly enjoyed a textbook preparation from her base at Chantilly.

The drying ground, and huge interest back home no doubt, saw her price shorten to 10/1 on the day and, like the winner and Onesto, she was held-up and delivered late. Christophe Lemaire was content to bide his time and the mare stayed on strongly having been switched to the inside of weakening rivals, compared to Ace Impact and Onesto who came wide, and she held off Continuous to take fourth.

No St Leger winner has doubled up in the Arc in the same season and the supplemented Continuous proved easy-to-back down in trip on much quicker ground than his Classic success at Doncaster. He looked to have a good draw in stall seven but Ryan Moore wasn’t interested in the early gallop, no doubt not wishing to overdo it early on aboard a colt who ran hard over a mile and three-quarters just 15 days earlier.

Continuous still had 10 horses in front of him turning into the straight and had to wait for the field to fan out a little at the cutaway before seriously making his effort, but he didn’t have anything like the tactical speed of the winner and could only stay on at the one pace for fifth.

He remains a horse with serious potential, though, and could be one with whom his trainer looks to target major international prizes either in Japan or Hong Kong later in the year.

There was a two and a half length gap back to the rest and Bay Bridge, a reluctant leader through the very early stages, still appeared to be racing quite freely until around halfway. Best on softer ground, his effort should be marked up as he just had nothing left to give in the final two furlongs. A return to 10 and a defence of his Champion Stakes crown looks highly plausible on this evidence.

The 100/1 outsider Sisfahan did best of the three German runners, the better-fancied (and supplemented) Fantastic Moon briefly looking a real threat on turning for home before not fully seeing it out. He looked a shade flat after an impressive prep win in the Prix Niel, the runner-up that day Feed The Flame reversing the form but merely finishing in a bunch for the minor honours.

Free Wind beat only two home as Frankie Dettori, who finishes his career with a record six Arc victories, failed to make it a magnificent seven. The five-year-old mare had pushed subsequent Vermeille winner Warm Heart close in the Yorkshire Oaks but was nowhere near her best after travelling around on the heels of Westover. She found very little when asked for an effort and was sensibly looked after in the straight.

Final word to Hukum, who could manage only ninth. His trainer Owen Burrows has had another brilliant season and gave his six-year-old star all the time in the world to recover from his heroic battle with Westover, though the ground went against him and the draw (14) clearly wasn’t kind.

“He owes us nothing,” said jockey Jim Crowley on ITV after the race. And if it’s the final time we see Hukum on track then he certainly won’t be remembered for this low-key effort. He's done his connections proud after some serious injuries, but the wait for a first Arc victory in the famous blue and white silks of Shadwell goes on.

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