Ruby Walsh: Arc is as close as we have to a Grand Prix, so why the gridlock?
PARIS CALLING: Watching the Prix de l'Arc always makes me wish I was there in Longchamp. Pic: Lo Chun Kit /Getty Images)
In the space of just four hours and 17 minutes this afternoon, Britain and Ireland will run 43 races at six venues.
Call it two separate countries, but the crossover of punters is huge. Newmarket’s Royal Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes is the highlight of the 43, and Dermot Weld’s Homeless Songs will bid to turn the tables on Saffron Beach whilst trying to bag her second Group 1 of the season. Outside of that, Newmarket only has a big-field two-year-old sales race to support its feature, and the rest of the card is run-of-the-mill stuff.
Southwest of London, Ascot has a pair of Group 3s which are numerically well supported, a big-field heritage handicap and a decent listed fillies’ race, but it lacks the feature race which Newmarket has. Redcar has the William Hill Trophy and slots into the middle of Ascot's timings and so, for a terrestrial TV viewer, the best races Britain has to offer are lined up nicely. It looks like two meetings are being run where one would suffice, and it also demotes Redcar’s feature day to the third meeting for punters to choose from.
Gowran Park is probably the number one meeting for Irish punters but, at best, will be the fourth choice for non-residents. At least it has pushed its best races to later on its eight-race card, with the PWC Champion Chase due off at 4.02. Easy Game can follow up his facile Listowel win by accounting for Kemboy again. Banbridge will make his chasing debut at 5.12 - nicely spaced out for those wanting to watch the best the sport offers.
Neither Fontwell nor Killarney have a feature race, and between the six meetings, 28 of the races could be run any day of the week. There is no need to have wedged so much in, especially with day one of the Arc weekend on. Perhaps that was the plan: to fill every minute of the day with a race so people in these parts forgot Longchamp is on!
It would probably surprise some people just how many passengers have departed Ireland since Thursday, let alone the UK, en route to Longchamp. The lure of Paris and one of the great European races, on a Sunday afternoon, is the perfect timing for a long weekend on the Champs Elysees as the leaves change colour and fall from the trees.
The sight of the Eiffel Tower in the background as the runners descend from behind the trees to enter the false straight, six furlongs from home in the Prix de l'Arc, always makes me wish I was there. I have never been and have promised Gillian we will - it's on my bucket list, but she went when her Clondaw Warrior ran - but this week of every year, I wonder why I haven't sorted it out.
France Galop has grown its Saturday card, with two internationally contested Group 1s. It will attract global eyes to Paris, with Yutaka Take bringing Japanese interest and Verry Elleegant and Mark Zehra drawing the Australian ones. Ireland and Great Britain are well represented for the weekend because Longchamp holds the racing cards this weekend, and the ace in that pack is tomorrow afternoon.
The Arc is the Arc. It is guaranteed to be a great race with a supporting card to make it a special day: six Group 1s bringing the weekend tally to eight and supported by quality to make it elite.
En masse, the French are not massive racegoers, but the Tote-like betting system in general cafes all around the country ensures the sport is well funded, and for its elite days at Longchamp, Chantilly and Deauville, the crowds flock in, none more so than Sunday when Paris goes racing, and the world of horse racing looks on.
The Irish will go wherever the prize money is, but the Germans don't tend to stray off mainland Europe very often, and the Japanese have become obsessed with the Arc. Even the Aussies are starting to have a go - or they tried to, but the mare they sent to the Northern Hemisphere to have a go, Veery Elleegant, didn't make the top 20 and so failed to get a run and instead runs this afternoon.
It is hard to believe a mare who has won 11 times at the top level south of the equator could be deemed not good enough to make the top 20 in Paris, but maybe that is standard of this year's renewal even without the Champion Stakes-bound Baaeed.
Two Irish, five English, seven French, two German and four Japanese horses make tomorrow's Arc field of 20 an international affair, and Luxembourg heads the field for Ireland. Alpinista is the number one English hope, last year’s winner, Torquator Tasso, is Germany’s, Vadeni or Onesto are France’s, and Titleholder is the number one Japanese contender.
Paris is about as close as horse racing comes to a Grand Prix weekend but still miles away because it is nowhere near to having one elite program. Some of the stars are in Newmarket today, more are still in Australia, and the Stateside contingent doesn't prioritise this surface. Yes, it is the number one show for many this weekend, but for horse racing to grow and compete with the big sporting occasions, more thought is required on the global unification of competition.
