Any price! Danedream wins the Arc.
When Peter Schiergen was enjoying the trappings of success as Germany’s champion jockey two decades ago, he was never considered fashionable enough to match it with Europe’s best in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but on Sunday that professional snub was erased at a stroke when he won the race as a trainer.
Schiergen, 46, triumphed with little-known Danedream, who will go into the record books as an Arc winner that managed to get under the radar of most punters, though a brilliant one just the same. She won by five lengths in course record time, 2min 24.49sec, shaving 0.11sec off Peintre Celebre’s previous best set in 1997.
There was no element of fluke about the win. She sat handy behind pacemakers for Ballydoyle’s and the Aga Khan’s key contenders, but when asked by jockey Andrasch Starke for her final sprint in the home straight, her acceleration proved devastating and she drew away to register only the second German win in the 91-year history of the race.
Star Appeal, trained by Theo Grieper and ridden by Greville Starkey in 1975, had been the first, at odds of 119-1, and while the 27-1 returned about Danedream on the Pari-Mutuel may appear skinny in comparison, the race was still perceived as a bookmakers’ benefit. Second home, Shareta, though coupled locally with well-fancied Sarafina, had been dismissed as a pacemaker and consequently sent off at a big price in Britain.
Snow Fairy, ridden by Frankie Dettori, ran on very strongly to take third, a neck behind the runner-up and half a length ahead of former Australian champion So You Think, given far too much to do from his wide draw, in fourth. The first three home were fillies.
It will remain a point of debate why Christophe Lemaire elected to stay so far off the rail on Sarafina, and why Seamie Heffernan decided to drop So You Think out the back, especially when stablemate Treasure Beach, an Irish Derby winner no less, appeared to be sacrificed in a trailblazing role.
No doubt the conclusion will be reached that no decent jockey will concede an inch in the first two furlongs of an Arc, so important is it to claim a position early, and those drawn badly will always suffer. Workforce found himself sandwiched between Reliable Man and Meandre, and running out of room so quickly that Ryan Moore had to snatch up and ease to the rear.
In this vintage running — the class of horse was widely agreed beforehand as being exceptional — those giving away 12 lengths and more to the leaders were always going to struggle. There had been a furious pace all the way, and sectional timing experts reported the ‘splits’ recorded by the winner to be incredible.
St Nicholas Abbey, ridden by Joseph O’Brien, sat handy throughout and finished an honourable fifth, just clear of Meandre, the Grand Prix de Paris winner, who took sixth without ever looking dangerous at any point.
Schiergen had no grand end-of-season plans for Danedream, who has progressed rapidly in the past few months. She is to stay in training next year when she will given the chance to enhance her growing reputation at Group One level.
At the press conference, Schiergen spoke of the disappointment he experienced when he had been five-times German champion jockey, and one who had set a record of 273 winners in a single season, yet not considered good enough to ride in the Arc. “Lando was one of my regular rides, yet Michael Roberts got the ride when the big races came around,” he recalled.
He took out a trainer’s licence in 1997 and proved an immediate success in his new profession. He has been champion three times and trained such decent types as Tiger Hill, who finished third in the 1998 Arc, Boreal, a Coronation Cup winner at Epsom, and the much-travelled campaigner Quijano.
This was also the finest hour for Starke, 37, who nine years previously had seen his career in tatters when he had been banned in Hong Kong for a month for riding under the influence of alcohol — the first to be charged there for that offence — and also banned for six months after being found to have taken prohibited substances.
Danedream’s triumph was the final professional step in his rehabilitation following that embarrassing episode.
Article with kind thanks to The Telegraph(www.telegraph.co.uk)
