Jason Kiely speaks to Cristian Demuro, the rider of Sottsass
Sottsass is seen as the main danger to Enable in this afternoon's Qatar Prix de L'Arc de Triomphpe and Jason Kiely spoke to his jockey Cristian Demuro on the eve of the race.
Based as a jockey in France since 2013, Cristian Demuro has wasted no time in becoming one of the country's leading riders.
With strong established relationships with many trainers and the support of leading owner Gerard Augustin-Normand, Italian-born Demuro notched up 100 winners in a French season for the first time in 2018. This year he has already left that number well behind and more importantly he has become associated with a potential superstar.
Sottsass is regarded by many as a genuine threat to Enable in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe after landing the Prix du Jockey Club in such magnificent style at Chantilly in June and 27-year-old Demuro believes that the ‘impossible’ is actually very possible.
Firstly Cristian, it has been three weeks since Sottsass won the Qatar Prix Niel, how is he feeling at home? And how are you feeling now that Arc weekend is finally here?
He seems to be in great shape, I went and rode him on Tuesday morning and he was well. We did nothing intense, it was just an exercise canter really, he doesn’t need to do anything more than that. I am quite relaxed about it there is no stress or nerves really, quite the opposite actually. We know that we have a very good chance and like all the other Group Ones I am just going to stay concentrated. I have almost been counting down the days and I am really looking forward to going out and giving it our best shot. Now that the weekend is here we can really concentrate on the race ahead.
Winning the Prix du Jockey Club in June was a great achievement, did you think at that point that Sottsass could become a real Arc contender?
He showed a lot of class when winning the Jockey Club, that day he really exploded onto the scene. We beat a very good horse in Persian King and he also set a course record, it was an amazing performance really. Before that he had won his preparation race on heavy ground with Christophe Soumillon but it was nothing out of the ordinary. He needs to be a real champion to win the Arc and to beat Enable. I know he is a three-year-old and that it’s going to be difficult, but Sottsass is a very tough horse and if he beats Enable he will be a champion. We have no idea yet of how far he can go, so why not believe that it is possible, I think he can win.
The Prix Niel win saw Sottsass encounter some trouble in running before winning cosily, do you think we learned anything new from that?
In the Prix Niel we got quite squeezed in and got stopped in our run two or three times, when he did manage to get out he really flew. I suppose what you could take away from that is at least he had quite an easy race because I didn’t have to push him and more importantly he might have learned something new when getting himself out of that tricky situation.
We know that sometimes he can get quite tense before the race, do you envisage that being a problem with the Arc being such a big occasion?
As a horse he has matured a lot, obviously there will be a lot more people there for the Arc but even on trails day he was a lot calmer in the parade ring. We can always use earplugs if we feel they are needed, they could help keep him calm but he ran without them in the Jockey Club. Even if he is sweating and getting a bit warm in the parade ring that is normal enough for him, once he is out on the track he is much happier, I am not worried about it, he changes out there.
Drawn in stall one leaves not too many options in terms of tactics, what is you feeling of how the race will work out?
Yes being drawn on the inside leaves us not too many choices but that’s no bad thing. I think that from the outside stall Ghaiyyath will go on in front like we expect him too. To do that he will have to come across the whole field, so I think we will be ok where we are. I just hope that Sottsass will manage to get out of the stalls well and take a position easily because the last time we just had a bit of trouble with that. I guess that Enable will be right behind the leaders along with Kiseki. The ideal situation would be if we could just slot in behind them. I haven’t spoken about tactics with the connections yet, we will leave that until before the race.
The ground is going to be very soft, something that Sottsass has already encountered on numerous occasions, this could be an advantage?
He acts brilliant on the soft ground and with less weight on his back than Enable on that ground of course its an advantage, he had the same action on the soft ground when I rode him on Tuesday morning as he did in the Jockey Club on good ground, its exceptional really.
Riding in the Arc, especially given that Sottsass has a great chance, how does that make you feel?
Already just to ride in the Arc brings me some incredible feelings and its true we have a great chance. I am very proud to be riding in the race. To win it would be a dream come true and because I am riding Sottsass I have been able to dream of winning and even that’s not too bad. This is the best race of the year, everybody waits for October to come around and to have a big chance like I do, is unbelievable really.
Obviously Frankie is also Italian, does this change anything?
With Frankie being a fellow Italian on Enable it is quite exciting, both of us come from the same roots, we can have our own private battle between Italians. If it is Enable who wins it will be incredible for the sport but of course I am hoping that we can get the better of Frankie this time!
The 2019 season has by far been your most productive, is this something that has surprised you? And how much work has it taken?
I have been so lucky this year to have quite a bit of success, but I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, it’s a team effort. We have already managed to get 117 winners on the board, its incredible! We have won a Group One along with plenty of other big races with some really nice horses. My agent Bruno Barbereau has been working so hard this year and has found me some very talented horses to ride, he really has helped. I also have had quite a lot of support this year from Jean-Claude Rouget and many other trainers which is great and also my contract with Gerard Augstin-Normand, it has all worked together perfectly.
And 2020, are you setting your sights on being champion?
Obviously to be champion jockey in France would be very difficult, it would mean travelling up and down the country non-stop, it really is a big commitment to try and set out specifically to do that. You never know really, we will finish this year and maybe give it a thought for next season.
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