Daryz wins back-to-back Prix de l’Arc de Triomphes
Daryz became the first colt for almost 50 years to win Europe’s most prestigious race, the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, in successive seasons with a brilliant victory at ParisLongchamp.
Not since the Vincent O’Brien-trained Alleged and Lester Piggott in 1977 and 1978 has a colt managed to defend his title, but once Mickael Barzalona pulled the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Daryz out to make his run the result looked inevitable.
Winning jockey Mickael Barzalona told Sky Sports Racing: “To win this kind of race twice he has to be a remarkable horse. It’s always a tough race and it didn’t go to plan but he deserved to win.”
Meanwhile, trainer Francis-Henri Graffard was relieved and stated: “He’s a good horse – he’s a champion. It’s so hard a race to win – I was upset with myself for putting so much pressure on myself. The horse was really well and his rider was confident. He rode a beautiful race.
“All my family is here – I am so happy for [the owner] Princerss Zahra. I wish I could be allowed to win the race with him for third time but I don’t think I will be allowed to.”
Daryz crosses the line for victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Photograph: Steven Cargill/racingfotos.com/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 11.48 EDT
Key events
Well that’s all for another year on Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe day. As usual there’s been some superb racing but the undoubted highlight was seeing Daryz win the big race for the second year running – it’s been a long time since seeing Alleged win back-to-back Arcs in the late 1970s and the winner was completing something pretty special. The sadness is that we’re pretty unlikely to see him come back for a crack at immortality and a third win in a row. Owner Princess Zahra Aga Khan stated at the press conference that Daryz is more likely to go to stud than return to Longchamp in search of a third Arc next October. “You get to the point where you’re taking a risk every time you run the horse,” she said. “His mother improved with age but would we want him to train on for another year? I’m not sure. He has other things to do.”
A real shame if understandable. Meanwhile, see you back here on Champions Day at Ascot a week next Saturday.
The winners presentation for Daryz after the Prix de l Arc de Triomphe with the victorious owner Princess Zahra Aga Khan, fourth from right. Photograph: Frank Sorge/racingfotos.com/ShutterstockShare4.25pm Prix de la Forêt result
1 True Love 5-2
2 Nighttime 9-1
3 Puerto Rico 14-1
4.25pm Prix de la Forêt
And they’re off … Marvelman leads in the early stages … Nighttime comes up the running rail in the straight with what looks like a winning run but True Love challenges and Aidan O’Brien has finally got a winner up after a tricky weekend for the trainer.
Updated at 11.34 EDT
4.25pm Prix de la Forêt betting
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Greg Wood
4.25pm Prix de la Forêt preview
Just eight runners go to post for this seven-furlong Group One, the smallest field since 2011, which should ensure that the draw is less of a factor than is generally the case, and the top four in the betting – Samangan, Thesecretadversary, True Love and Nighttime – have all met once already at this trip in the Group One Prix Jean Prat in July. The winner there was Thesecretadversary, with True Love, Nighttime and Samangan next across the line and separated by half-a-length, a head and a neck, and there is unlikely to be much more in it today. Samangan, though, looked to have improved again when winning the Group One Prix Maurice Du Gheest over six-and-a-half furlongs last time out and may well be the pick of the prices with the British bookmakers at around 100-30.
SELECTION: Samangan
Share3.50pm Prix de l’Opera result
1 Miss Scott 5-1
2 Precise 4-1
3 Pink Panthera 11-2
Miss Scott wins the Prix de l Opera. Photograph: Frank Sorge/racingfotos.com/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 11.40 EDT
3.50pm Prix de l’Opera
And they’re off … Aventure was a bit awkward out of the stalls and is next to last in the early stages … Jennifer Jane has the lead as they turn into the straight … Aventure is too slow today and Miss Scott wins for the British training team of John and Thady Gosden.
Updated at 10.58 EDT
3.50pm Prix de l’Opera betting
Aventure – 7/4
Precise – 7/2
Pink Panthera – 9/2
Miss Scott – 11/2
Cankoura – 22/1
Jennifer Jane – 33/1
Venetian Lace – 33/1
Timeforshowcasing – 33/1
50/1 BAR
3.50pm Prix de l’Opera preview
Aventure, a five-year-old who has run in the Arc in the last two seasons and finished second behind Bluestocking in 2024, is the likely favourite for this race restricted to fillies and mares and arrives off the back of a Group One win – the second of her career – in the Prix Jean et Louis Romanet at Deauville in August, when she had one of Aidan O’Brien’s Arc contenders, Diamond Necklace, two lengths away in second. That is enough to put her on top of the Timeform ratings, but not by much, as another O’Brien-trained filly, Precise, is just 1lb behind as she steps up to a mile-and-a-quarter for the first time. Precise was the beaten favourite in the 1,000 Guineas in May and then landed both the Irish equivalent and the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, and while she was below her best in the Matron Stakes at the Curragh last time, this step up in trip could see a revival, in a race that has been won by a three-year-old in 10 of the last 12 runnings.
SELECTION: Precise
Updated at 10.43 EDT
Daryz wins back-to-back Prix de l’Arc de Triomphes
Daryz became the first colt for almost 50 years to win Europe’s most prestigious race, the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, in successive seasons with a brilliant victory at ParisLongchamp.
Not since the Vincent O’Brien-trained Alleged and Lester Piggott in 1977 and 1978 has a colt managed to defend his title, but once Mickael Barzalona pulled the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Daryz out to make his run the result looked inevitable.
Winning jockey Mickael Barzalona told Sky Sports Racing: “To win this kind of race twice he has to be a remarkable horse. It’s always a tough race and it didn’t go to plan but he deserved to win.”
Meanwhile, trainer Francis-Henri Graffard was relieved and stated: “He’s a good horse – he’s a champion. It’s so hard a race to win – I was upset with myself for putting so much pressure on myself. The horse was really well and his rider was confident. He rode a beautiful race.
“All my family is here – I am so happy for [the owner] Princerss Zahra. I wish I could be allowed to win the race with him for third time but I don’t think I will be allowed to.”
Daryz crosses the line for victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Photograph: Steven Cargill/racingfotos.com/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 11.48 EDT
3.05 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe result
1 Daryz 13-8fav
2 Bay City Roller 28-1
3 Diamond Necklace 10-1
Mickaël Barzalona riding Daryz (green) wins the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 10.19 EDT
3.05 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
And they’re off in the highlight of the European racing year … Friendly Soul is very fast out of the stalls … Bay City Roller runs wide early … and favourite Daryz is about two-thirds down the field … and running a bit keen … Meisho Tabaru now leads and Daryz is making progress … into the straight … Bay City Roller has the lead but Daryz comes with a withering run and becomes the first colt since the late-1970s to win back-to-back Arcs.
Updated at 10.26 EDT
One of the big stories of the day is the victory in the Prix de l’Abbaye for young Jack Nicholls who upheld family tradition in winning a first Group One aboard the supplemented Miss Yechance at ParisLongchamp.
The grandson of David “Dandy” Nicholls – who won this race in 2002 with Continent and was renowned as a master trainer of sprinters – and son of Adrian, former jockey now trainer, Nicholls has taken his chance with both hands in what has been a breakthrough season.
Riding in his first top-level contest, Nicholls, 20, found himself up alongside Ryan Moore on Mission Central inside the final furlong but timed it all to perfection for a famous success aboard the Karl Burke-trained filly. Shiri flashed home to claim second ahead of Mission Central.
Nicholls said: “I’ve never had a feeling like that, there’s no words to describe it really. I can’t take much credit, she does everything herself and I’m just the lucky lad that gets to sit on top of her. I just try to keep her as happy as I can and she does the rest for me.
“I didn’t think I would get a chance in a Group One and I’ll be forever grateful to the owners and Karl for putting their trust in me and to let me ride her.”
Miss Yechance with Jack Nicholls up after winning the Dubai International Airport World Trophy at Newbury in September. Photograph: Steven Cargill/racingfotos.com/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 09.38 EDT
3.05 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe betting
ShareGreg Wood
3.05 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe preview
You can click here for the detailed runner-by-runner breakdown of this year’s Arc, but a summary of the more general points to consider would be that three-year-olds, and three-year-old fillies in particular, are favoured by the race conditions, and perhaps more significantly still, a single-figure draw is a big advantage when the ground at Longchamp is riding fast, because the contours and turns give closers so much to do in the straight.
But the only place to start for betting purposes is Daryz, last year’s winner, who will be the first colt to follow up for nearly 50 years if he registers a second success this afternoon. For me, he is poor value at around 7-4 – or possibly shorter on the local PMU – despite a favourable draw for the second year running. The last three colts to attempt a repeat have been beaten (all behind three-year-olds, as it happens), he was comfortably beaten by Kalapana in the King George and while his three other races this season have been Group One wins here at Longchamp, there has been no real sense of his form going up a notch at four.
I would have happily backed Maltese Cross at around 5-1 had he not ended up with a double-figure draw, but Tom Marquand may need to big dollop of luck from stall 11 and another couple of points on his price may not fully account for the extent to which his chance has been compromised.
That leaves Kalapana, Thundering On and Varandir as the obvious contenders. Thundering On is the one that ticks every box for age, gender and draw, but at around 14-1 with the UK bookmakers, an each-way bet on Varandir could be the best way to go. Daryz’s year-younger stable-companion arrives with a similar profile to last year’s winner, having been unraced at two before winning the same maiden at Longchamp in April that launched Daryz’s career in 2025. He has just five races under his belt, considerable scope for improvement at a well-run one-and-a-half miles and his sole defeat thus far was by less than half a length in the Group One Grand Prix de Paris.
Selection: Varandir.
Updated at 09.30 EDT
Amusingly looked all class in beating the colts to land the Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at ParisLongchamp. Francis-Henri Graffard surprised many when switching his Juddmonte-owned filly from the Prix Marcel Boussac against her own sex, but the decision was well and truly vindicated.
Graffard said: “She beat the filly that finished second in the Marcel Boussac (Data) very easily, so I was hoping I didn’t make a mistake. She shows a lot of speed this filly, so I said to Barry Mahon [Juddmonte racing manager] she’s more of a Commonwealth Cup filly than a Guineas filly for next year.
“I’ve no idea if she’ll go to the Breeders’ Cup, I need to speak to the team. Today is a big win so I just want to enjoy that and winter well and we have a lovely filly for next year, but what she has done today is wonderful.”
Share1.47pm Prix de l’Abbaye result
1 Miss Yechance 9-2
2 Shiri 6-1
3 Mission Central 9-1
Apprentice rider Jack Nicholls is all smiles after victory on Miss Yechance in the Prix de l’Abbaye at ParisLongchamp. Photograph: Steven Cargill/racingfotos.com/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 09.06 EDT
1.47pm Prix de l’Abbaye
And they’re off … this is over five furlongs and over super quick so apologies if I don’t catch all the action – this is going to be fast and furious … Ponntos is quick away as ever … Naana’s Shadow comes with her challenge … but she’s too wide and Miss Yechance has won – it’s a British success and a victory for trainer Karl Burke, who lost Fallen Angel in tragic circumstances on Saturday.
Updated at 08.51 EDT
1.47pm Prix de l’Abbaye betting
ShareGreg Wood
1.47pm Prix de l’Abbaye preview
Fifteen runners for Longchamp’s Group One sprint, though as ever it will take a mighty performance to win from a double-figure draw and sadly that may scupper the chance that Naana’s Shadow will give Katie Scott’s 20-horse stable in the Scottish borders a fairytale success. Naana’s Shadow was an impressive winner of the trial for this race last month, when she beat nine rivals with something to spare, but she was drawn three that day and is 14 of 15 today and therefore hard to back with any confidence.
The speedy Czech-trained veteran Ponntos was behind Naana’s Shadow last time but has drawn much better in the plum stall one, but is still likely to find at least one or two of these too good, and Shiri, the runner-up behind Naana’s Shadow, will have plenty of supporters to turn the table from stall four. Mission Central, who took the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot, has also drawn well in five but his form has taken a sharp downturn since June, and Karl Burke’s Miss Yechance, who has bags of early speed to get across from stall eight, could be the pick of the field at odds of around 7-1.
Selection: Miss Yechance
Updated at 08.18 EDT
1.09pm Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere result
1 Amusingly 15-2
2 Foldom Blues 5-6fav
3 Man’s Best Friend 12-1
Amusingly with Colin Keane up after winning the Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere at Paris Longchamp. Photograph: Frank Sorge/racingfotos.com/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 09.03 EDT
1.09pm Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere
And they’re off for this key race for juveniles … Crusherman leads for a long way but Amusingly, the ONLY filly in the race, wins well after a very slow start. That’s impressive, especially given her slow start as she travelled really well up the home straight. And also a winner for trainer Francis Graffard, who saddles the hot favourite Daryz in the Arc later.
Updated at 08.16 EDT
Social media reports suggest that Spirit Tango, who ran in the first race at ParisLongchamp today, has had to be put down. A very sad postscript to the Prix Marcel Boussac and news which follows the death of another horse on Arc weekend after the demise of another British runner in Fallen Angel on Saturday.
Green Empress provided trainer Joseph O’Brien with another big-race success in a stellar year when narrowly holding off Data to win the Prix Marcel Boussac, the forst race at ParisLongchamp on Arc day.
O’Brien said: “It’s really special for us to have a Group One winner on this day and she has been progressive – she’s only ever been beaten by Sun Goddess all year. She has a super pedigree, being by Saxon Warrior out of a Sea The Stars mare. We see her as a miler that might go 10 furlongs at some stage.
“We’ll see how she comes out of today and discuss with the owners whether she’ll go to America [for the Breeders’ Cup] or whether we wait for next year.”
O’Brien added: “We’re very lucky to have the support of some great people and a wide variety of owners. For us it’s about performing and executing at big meetings. It’s fantastic to have a big winner on Arc day.”
Trainer Joseph Patrick O’Brien can’t seem to put a hoof wrong this year. Photograph: Damien Eagers/PAShare
1.09pm Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere betting
ShareGreg Wood
1.09pm Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere preview
The second two-year-old race on the card is often assumed to be the colts’ version of the Boussac, but it’s over seven furlongs rather than a mile and while the great majority of the field are colts, fillies are also eligible and Francis-Henri Graffard’s Amusingly is an interesting contender with the 4lb sex allowance at the bottom of the card. Aidan O’Brien’s Happily, in 2017, is the only filly to actually win this century, though, and as was the case in the opener, it is Joseph O’Brien, and not his father, who fields the likely favourite in Folsom Blues.
The son of Blue Point bolted up in the Group One National Stakes at the Curragh three weeks ago, finishing six lengths clear without being asked for maximum effort, and though a draw in stall 10 is not ideal, a repeat of that will make him hard to beat. That said, Folsom Blues has been beaten in three of his five starts to date, unlike Avec Toi, the likely second-favourite, who arrives with a perfect 4-from-4 record. He is stepping up from Group Three company but clearly brings considerable talent to the fray, though I’ll be more than happy to back Folsom Blues to beat him, not least because his latest rout was backed up by a strong time.
SELECTION: Folsom Blues
Share12.31pm Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac result
1 Green Empress 13-8f
2 Data 8-1
3 Queen Of The Day 11-2
12.31pm Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac
And they’re off for the opener on Arc day … Nevermindtherain is slowly away and Green Empress the favourite is in midfield … Spirit Tango leads at halfway … So Lovely is right there as they turn for home … Green Empress now delivers her challenge and will just hold on a very strong challenge from Data. sadly, Spirit Tango appeared to suffer a very bad injury during the race.
Updated at 07.42 EDT
12.31pm Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac betting
He’s shocked! Cristian Demuro on Sottsass reacts after winning the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2020. Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPAShareGreg Wood
12.31pm Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac preview
A dozen runners for the Arc meeting’s premier event for juvenile fillies, won last year by an Arc contender, Diamond Necklace. It’s a race where the visitors have enjoyed plenty of success in recent years but the home team have also managed to hold their own, with 10 wins for French stables in the last 20 years and the remainder shared between Ireland and Britain. Aidan O’Brien, needless to say, is the most successful raider from across the water, with six wins since 2005, but it is his son, Joseph, who fields the likely favourite in Green Empress, the runner-up behind his dad’s hugely impressive Sun Goddess in the Moyglare Stud Stakes last time.
She sets the standard, but she was also six-and-a-half lengths adrift and rivals like Christophe Ferland’s Allela, who looks the pick of the locals, must be taken seriously. She is stepping straight into Group One company after winning a couple of minor events at Deauville and Chantilly but is still just 1lb behind Green Empress on Timeform’s ratings with two fewer races in the book. Her stable-companion, Data, is another to consider having run third in a Group Two last time. O’Brien snr fields three runners with Ibelieveicanfly (Ryan Moore) looking like the first-string but all three have something to find on ratings, while Miss Miniver, beaten less than a length-and-a-half when fourth in the Rockfel at Newmarket nine days, is an interesting runner in Godolphin blue from the Roger Varian stable.
SELECTION: Allela
Today’s favourite Daryz, far side, beating Minnnie Hauk in last year’s Prix de l’Arc Triomphe. What a picture; what a photograph … as Tommy Steele once put it! Photograph: Steven Cargill/racingfotos.com/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 08.55 EDT
Here’s the line up (and what a tasty one it is ) for today’s action at Longhamp
12.31pm Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac SKY
1.09pm Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere SKY/ITV
1.47pm Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp Longines SKY/ITV
2.25pm Qatar Arabian World Cup SKY/ITV
3.05pm Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe SKY/ITV
3.50pm Prix de l’Opera Longines SKY
4.25pm Qatar Prix de la Foret SKY
We’ll be giving you Greg’s previews and the betting about half an hour before each race.
Christophe Soumillon on Zarkava after a majestic win in the 2008 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. I was there that day. Photograph: Lucas Dolega/EPASharePreambleGreg Wood
Bienvenue à Longchamp on one of the most eagerly anticipated days of the racing year: the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the most valuable and prestigious race of the European season, is due off at 16.05 local time (1.05pm BST) and in all there are half a dozen Group One events on the card in the Bois de Boulogne on the busiest afternoon of top-level racing in Europe all year.
The Arc needs little introduction: it’s roll of honour speaks for itself. Ribot, Sea-Bird, Mill Reef, Dancing Brave, Peintre Celebre and Sea The Stars all have their names up there in lights, and that’s to name but six.
If you’re going to click on one of those links, I’d recommend Sea-Bird for several reasons. You can’t beat a Peter O’Sullevan commentary for one, and it’s weird to see the field completely disappear from view for several seconds behind the trees in the middle of the track (the coverage cuts to a bemused Frenchman in the stands). But above all it’s for the way he bursts clear at the top of the straight, putting the race to bed with an effortless, ground-eating stride that looks as though he’s running on his own personal conveyor belt.
The Classics sort out the best horses of every generation, but the Arc sifts the all-time greats from the best of several generations could see Daryz join the very small band of colts that have won the Arc in successive years. Last year’s winner has drawn well in stall five, but now gives weight to a strong cohort of three-year-olds including Thundering On, the Oaks winner; Maltese Cross, the Grand Prix de Paris winner; and his stable-companion, Varandir,who took one of the key Arc trials, the Prix Niel, last month.
Among the older horses, Kalpana, the King George winner, has improved again this year at the age of five and bids to set the seal on Andrew Balding’s best-ever season. And Minnie Hauk, last year’s narrow runner-up, will be a major player if she can bounce back to that form.
Dancing Brave racing to victory in the 1986 Prix De l’Arc de Triomphe. Photograph: racingfotos.com/REX Shutterstock
The going in Paris is unusually quick for the time of year, which is good news for some contenders – including Maltese Cross and Kalpana – and perhaps less so for Thundering On. But as the field turns for home and starts to fan out across the wide expanse of Longchamp’s final straight, the question will be the same as ever: which horse will rise to the challenge and stamp its name in Arc history?
We’re underway at Longchamp at 12.31pm BST with the Prix Marcel Boussac for juvenile fillies and there is more than an hour to build up to the big race after the Prix de l’Abbaye at 1.47, so kick back, relax and let the Guardian’s live blog pilot you through one of the best afternoons of the racing year.
Updated at 08.55 EDT