Our man feels a beaten rival could bridge the gap on Sun Goddess next year before recalling one of his most memorable Arc de Triomphe moments.
There’s Always next year…
Sun Goddess was terrific in Saturday’s Cheveley Park Stakes and looks well on course for a record-breaking juvenile season if maintaining her form, but the revised 7/4 for next year's 1000 Guineas makes zero appeal I must admit.
The unbeaten May Hill winner Musical Times could lie in wait in next month’s bet365 Fillies’ Mile and that would be another race to savour, but I wonder if Cheveley Park third Alwaysanangel might be able to get the better of Sun Goddess at some stage. Whether that’s later this season back at Newmarket, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on what could easily be more forgiving ground at Keeneland, or in next year’s Guineas (25/1 in places), is a moot point, but Alwaysanangel enhanced her credentials further at the weekend and surely won’t be seen over a sprint trip again for the remainder of her career.
Joseph O’Brien’s Harry Angel filly is out of a Dalakhani mare and is crying out for more of a test based on both of her Newmarket runs this year, plus the cosy seven-furlong Cork victory sandwiched in between visits to the July Course and Rowley Mile.
There’s no real case for suggesting the sizeable Sun Goddess is a smash-and-grab two-year-old, but Joseph’s tend to improve with racing too and I wouldn’t rule out his filly being right up there with the best of them over a mile next year.
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Inner City Blues was a notable disappointment in the Middle Park but Charlie Appleby’s team have been purring along otherwise and, such was the warmth felt towards recently-retired globe-trotting star Rebel’s Romance, it must be highly rewarding to see his full-brother quickly building a profile to be proud of.
Three-year-old Fortitudine didn’t make his debut until August, when sent off 7/2 for a 1m3f novice event at Kempton Park, and appeared to take everyone by surprise in storming to a 21-length victory. Appleby was first to admit he’d need to see something similar before discarding the element of fluke about that introductory effort, since when the son of Dubawi has backed up at long odds-on under a penalty over the same course and distance, before making all in Friday’s Betway Godolphin Stakes (Listed).
Fortitudine will, on balance, never fully live up to his pedigree but can only improve as he matures and is reportedly heading for a shot at the Dubai City Of Gold in the winter at Meydan, a race completely farmed by Godolphin over the years and won this February by none other than big brother, Rebel’s Romance.
Appleby and William Buick were understandably all smiles again after Talk Of New York’s Joel Stakes victory on the same card, the Wootton Bassett colt settling into a rhythm far better compared to when beaten at Goodwood in July, before coming nearly five lengths clear of The Lost King, no mug himself but admittedly conceding 4lb to the winner.
A shot at the Breeders’ Cup Mile had looked a possibility if all went well but Appleby was quick to point out he’d rather be patient and wait another year for that particular mission with this horse – who could be a very fitting winner as in 2027 the American jamboree returns to recently-reopened Belmont Park, no more than a stone’s throw from JFK Airport.
The Class of ‘27
Arc week in Paris and it’s six years ago now that Ben Linfoot compiled his epic countdown of the 30 greatest renewals of the Longchamp showpiece. I’ll have to put it to the man himself this week whether Daryz beating Minnie Hauk in a pulsating finish last October might have crept into the picture had he been asked to start again from scratch, but if not then Ace Impact’s dazzling performance in 2023 might well have done.
Ace Impact’s career, often overlooked when weighing up some of the best middle-distance horses of recent times, began in the January that same year and he was packed straight off to stud when bringing up a sixth straight success in the Bois de Boulogne in the autumn of his three-year-old campaign.
This year’s race sees reigning champ Daryz bidding to hold off the young guns in Maltese Cross and Thundering On, shades of Enable’s second success in 2018 when the previous year’s winner – who had a few questions to answer at the time after a very light campaign – held off Sea Of Class in one of the most memorable recent Arcs, from a personal point of view.
It didn’t make Linfoot’s ‘Top 30’ and no doubt rightly so, but I always recall how utterly crestfallen James Doyle looked when reflecting on the result – even several days later. It probably lived with him all winter but Sea Of Class had been drawn in stall 15, Enable and Frankie Dettori faring much better in that regard with gate six, and in hindsight Doyle oh so nearly pulled off the greatest Arc ride of all time, weaving between rivals from the back of the pack, flying home in the dying strides and ultimately missing out by the lesser-spotted ‘short neck’.
William and Maureen Haggas were magnanimous in defeat – publicly at least – and there’s definitely a sense of unfinished business as they return to Longchamp with another three-year-old – this time a colt – in the shape of Maltese Cross.
But this year’s Sea Of Class could be another filly, Joseph O’Brien’s Oaks winner Thundering On a daughter of Frankel with a devilish turn of foot. Her trainer is seemingly going about his business chalking off every major race there is to be won in both codes of the game and the ears did prick when in a Racing TV interview early in the month he signed off with a steely look and a quite telling: “We’ll see what the feeling is for her next start, but I like the look of the Arc.”
You have been warned.
🗣️"I like the look of the Arc."
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 13, 2026
Allez, Thundering On! 🇫🇷@JosephOBrien2 | @irishkor pic.twitter.com/LavIj5RYd7
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