Mister Holywood leads all the way until Ace Impact whizzes by at Longchamp
Jockey Frankie Dettori, on his horse Enable, owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, crosses the finish line to win the 96th Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race at the Chantilly racecourse, north of Paris on October 1, 2017. PHOTO | FILE| AFP
One felt sorry for Mister Hollywood. He ran a fantastic Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, until others just swooped in.
Hukum, Westover, Continuous all had a spike at fame, but looming large was Ace Impact (Cristian Demuro 5-2), who confirmed his consummate class with an awesome performance that left others begging.
On an unseasonably sweltering afternoon in Paris, the brilliant Prix du Jockey Club winner cut through suffocating humidity with a searing turn of foot to swallow Westover (Rob Hornby 5-1) whole, a furlong away, seizing his place in history by an emphatic 1.75 lengths. This was a demonstration of unadulterated authority befitting such an epochal event over 2,400m.
Given the way Ace Impact built up a head of steam in stretch, with just two behind him for most of the race as he sought to conserve energy before unleashing the slingshot, he dealt with the distance admirably.
A colt of rare calibre, affording such a blistering turn of foot was the defining stamp of Ace Impact's French Derby coup at Chantilly, and he joined the pantheon of Arc immortals here in similarly arresting fashion.
It also confirmed Jean-Claude Rouget's status as an unlikely heir to Andre Fabre, harboring an uncanny ability to prime a heavyweight contender for Arc day. This was his second in four years after he and Cristian Demuro prevailed with Sottsass in 2020, and both horses were meticulously brought to a fever pitch for the first Sunday in October.
"We always say they're the best when a new horse comes along, but I think he has the strongest acceleration I've seen," Jean Claude said of Ace Impact's momentous surge.
Of the pre-race tension, he added: "In racing you never know what can happen, even if you are confident. My last reflection before the start of the race was that it was too good to be true. Yet it was true! Comparable with the great Enable!"
Onesto, Through Seven Seas, Continuous, Bay Bridge, Sisfahan, and, Hukum, will all receive handsome rewards for placings. Mister Hollywood (Bauyrzhan Murzabeyev 50-1), sadly faded to fifteenth.
