Geldings deserve a place in the Arc
As another Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe day draws to a close I’m reminded how much I do miss the famous Timeform Racehorses annuals which were another victim of the wretched Covid pandemic breakout. The respected racing ratings organisation ditched all their print products when the virus subsided with the world going back to normal and the annuals became a thing of the past.
My collection of them dates back to the mid-1970s and I even have a copy of a very rare item, the ‘Best Horses of 1945’ edition. That will be worth a nice price now but those who have the 1942 publication have a book worth at least £10k in their possession.
What I was reminded of in particular today was the essay on Cirrus Des Aigles’ essay in Racehorses of 2014.
‘The tree-dwelling three-toed sloth is generally regarded as being the world’s slowest mammal,” wrote Timeform back then, “its average speed around one sixth of a mile an hour.
“Racing could nominate its own contender: the collective membership of the European Pattern Committee moving imperceptibly towards removing the nonsensical ban on geldings in some of Europe’s Group 1 races … The idea that geldings should be excluded from the top races because those races exist for the purpose of selecting the best colts for breeding belongs to a bygone era.”
The geldings Goliath and Calandagan would easily have topped the Arc ratings this year if they had been allowed to run in the big race at Longchamp today and, as Timform stated this week, “the absence of both leaves Europe’s richest race [this year] very much the poorer.”
The fact that Goliath beat this year’s convincing Arc winner Bluestocking in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in great style underlines the case again for geldings being allowed to run in future. Apparently the matter is being discussed by the French racing authorities currently. Let’s hope they come to the right conclusion this time.
Good night and see you again a week on Saturday here for Champions Day from Ascot.
Prix de la Foret (4.40pm) result
1 Ramatuelle 7/2
2 Kinross 7/4f
3 Beauvatier 20/1
Ramatuelle powers home in the Group 1 Qatar Prix de la Foret Presente par Education Above All for @CHeadRacing and @lemaitre60LA at @paris_longchamp! pic.twitter.com/saXhMnZ7bd
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) October 6, 2024
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