Daryz was too good for his rivals in the Arc once again

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe analysis and a two-year-old to follow from Longchamp

Horse Racing

Sun October 04, 2026 · 10h ago

Matt Brocklebank reflects on the action from ParisLongchamp as favourite Daryz stormed to a second Arc success.

"It's always a rough race and nothing goes to plan,” formed part of Mickael Barzalona's rather bashful post-race assessment after claiming back-to-back Arc de Triomphe wins on board Daryz on Sunday.

Too good, I'd say. Simple as that.

It is true that the Arc can be won (and lost) in so many different ways but, after much deliberation over the draw, the ground and the three-year-old allowances, more often than not the winner is just too good and you’d be hard pressed to suggest that Francis Graffard’s colt wasn’t simply the best horse on the day.

He’s been the best horse on most of his days in competitive action now, winner of nine of his 12 career starts, and it’s just a slight pity that the two occasions he’s travelled to Britain have resulted in his not being able to produce anything like a peak ParisLongchamp performance (he was reported to be off-colour in the aftermath of Ascot this year).

But this is a homebird of the highest order, Daryz having run nine times at his ‘local’ venue (it’s around 30 miles from trainer Francis Graffard's Chantilly base to ParisLongchamp) and only once suffered defeat – that short-head reverse at the hands of Japanese-trained Croix Du Nord in last year’s Prix du Prince d’Orange starting to feel quite a long time ago now.

The extraordinary pace he had displayed in winning both the Prix Ganay and Prix d’Ispahan earlier this year, prior to the wheels looking a little wonky again in the Princes of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, ultimately came to the fore as Daryz dazzled once more in Sunday’s feature.

Click here for full Arc report and reaction

Mickael Barzalona enjoys the moment on Daryz

The early fractions didn’t look all that hot, with Bay City Roller and Diamond Necklace able to shuffle over from their wide draws to pick up promising enough positions, and although the winner raced a bit freely early on, there didn't appear to be any significant moments of concern if you’d backed the short-priced favourite. No matter how Barzalona might have been feeling at the time.

Good ground was always going to play to this terrific horse's strengths and as they settled down into a sprint for the line with a couple of furlongs to go, there was an air of inevitability about what was unfolding. The winning margin of a length and a quarter over Bay City Roller, very similar to what had played out in last month’s Prix Foy, probably not doing Daryz justice.

If ever there was a horse to potentially win three Arcs - yet to be done of course - it is he. But stud duties surely await now, Princess Zahra Aga Khan ominously stating "he has other things to do" in the press conference and I'm not sure even the amiable Graffard, who was a picture of calm throughout a sun-kissed afternoon, could take that sort of pressure.

Keep tabs on promising Chapelle

The two-year-old races that kick off the Arc card looked as deep as ever this term and again it was a sparkling performance from a filly that took most of the plaudits.

Last year we had Aidan O’Brien, Christophe Soumillon and the Coolmore operation understandably dreaming big with Diamond Necklace after her Marcel Boussac win and this time Amusingly grabbed everyone’s attention with a stylish performance in beating the colts in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere.

That’s a rare achievement in itself – she was just the third filly to do so in the race’s history – but the manner in which Colin Keane followed odds-on favourite Folsom Blues before exploding past him inside the final couple of furlongs was a real eye-opener.

The unusually slick racing surface (for this meeting, anyway) clearly played to Amusingly’s speed-laden strengths and, having been well and truly vindicated in his decision not to keep the filly at a mile against her own sex, trainer Francis Graffard was already airing the possibility of a Commonwealth Cup campaign next summer. He came close in that race last year and was responsible for the sixth this time around so knows a thing or two about sprinters as well.

There was no shame in Folsom Blues failing to give 3lb to the female winner, especially given his six-length National Stakes win having come following rain at the Curragh, while Aidan O’Brien saddled the next three home in Man’s Best Friend, Florida Bay and Aix La Chapelle.

The last-named, sent off an unconsidered 50/1 chance under Tom Marquand, is the horse to take from the race.

He’d only had a couple of runs prior to this, winning on debut before finishing third (demoted to fourth following an enquiry) behind Florida Bay and Folsom Blues in the Group 3 Tyros Stakes in July.

Aix La Chapelle briefly looked like getting in on the act in the ParisLongchamp home straight, before the lack of a recent run appeared to take its toll, and he’ll be dead interesting next time wherever that may be.

He’s 33/1 for the William Hill Futurity Trophy at Doncaster which could have some mileage, although the trip to France suggests he might be on his travels again before the year’s out.

I reckon he’ll relish some testing ground in the autumn, the son of Justify being out of a Pivotal mare, and perhaps another visit to this part of the world and the 10-furlong Critérium de Saint-Cloud, a race O’Brien has won with Pierre Bonnard and Los Angeles in recent seasons, could be on the agenda.

Christophe Soumillon celebrates on Miss Scott

Hit, Miss and maybe...

Vindication, too, for John & Thady Gosden who split their aces Friendly Soul and Miss Scott between the Arc and the Prix de l’Opera Longines.

It was overlooked slightly in the build-up but, with the benefit of hindsight, the presence of a rapidly-progressive three-year-old - along with that paid-up entry for winning the 12-furlong Prix Vermeille - presumably played some part in persuading them to go large with older mare Friendly Soul in the Arc. And she ran a stormer in fourth.

Rapidly-progressive three-year-old fillies have a fine record in the big one themselves, don't forget, but the less experienced Miss Scott had only raced up to 10 furlongs anyway and appeared to enhance her credentials quite considerably in beating Precise by a length and a half in the Opera.

"I didn't know if she'd be able to quicken so sharply, but she sprinted well and I could feel a filly coming for the last 100 yards so I was just hoping she wouldn't stop in front like last time at the Curragh," said Miss Scott's jockey Christophe Soumillon.

Her pedigree strongly suggests she'll stay a mile and a half in time and, on a day of future stars as well as current ones, we could be looking at the next major Arc contender from the Gosden camp at Clarehaven.

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