By Paul Hayward
You wait ages for one gelding capable of spicing up the Arc field to appear – then two come along at once.
Expediency is the obvious backdrop to France Galop's move to reconsider the ban on geldings in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, but the debate nevertheless goes to the heart of what sport is meant to be: the best against the best.
It's more nuanced and interesting than a straight in-house polemic about Group 1 race conditions. You'd have a hard job selling that one to the general public, though, in France, Jour de Galop have shed some light in a poll that showed 58.5% of readers in favour of geldings in the Arc and 41.5% against.
First, the expediency – or timing – of the discussion initiated by France's governing body, who say they will examine the case for opening not only the Arc but the Prix Jacques le Marois to non-entire horses.
Picture the scene at Longchamp next month. In France's greatest race, two of its most distinguished middle-distance runners are confined to base, not welcome in Paris's exalted autumn showdown, the final reckoning for Europe's finest.
As current race conditions stand, Goliath, the emphatic winner of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in a field of six Group 1 winners is excluded, for reasons to do with the protection of his breed.
So too is Calandagan, winner of the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, and closest pursuer of City Of Troy in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York. These two French heavyweights may have won big races named after British monarchs, but in the Arc they are lower than second-class citizens. They can't even show their faces.
There are sound reasons for this. It's just that Goliath and Calandagan have made the reasons look less sound, by way of their accomplishments on English tracks. The European Pattern Committee decrees that a Group 1 race must be run with “no penalties or allowances other than a sex allowance,” but allows geldings except in “those Group 1 races confined to three-year-olds and or two-year-olds.”
It's possible, then, that a stipulation designed to protect the breed is instead exposing it to doubt
Few ever argue for the Derby, 2,000 Guineas or St Leger to be thrown open to geldings, because the role those contests play as a measuring stick for breeding is deeply embedded. Universal access loses out to bloodstock imperatives. But in the big Group 1s for three-year-olds and upwards an anomaly leaps out. Goliath is allowed to win the King George but can't even run in the Arc? Consistency is one big justification France Galop could use for democratising its defining event.
In America the Triple Crown races embrace geldings. Nine have won the Kentucky Derby and 118 have run in the race since 1908. In 2003, Funny Cide broke a 74-year drought for geldings at Churchill Downs and narrowly missed out on a Triple Crown, winning the Preakness but coming home third in the Belmont. The most recent 'incomplete' Kentucky Derby winner was Mine That Bird in 2009.
Global racing history is peppered with geldings who passed into legend: Phar Lap, Kelso and John Henry among them. The greats occupy their own kind of hall of fame, but an important one nonetheless. This column will swerve the question of whether cutting a colt gives it an advantage or disadvantage over entire rivals because the two most common answers seem to be: 1. It depends and 2. Don't know.
What we do know is that this year's Arc winner is the closest middle-distance racing will have to a Champion of Europe. But will he or she fully deserve that title, given that Goliath and Calandagan are persona non grata? We'll never know whether either would have beaten the 2024 Arc winner, but we will always be sure they were denied the chance to try.
It's possible, then, that a stipulation designed to protect the breed is instead exposing it to doubt. How good is the Arc winner if two of the best mile-and-a-half horses on the continent are turned back at the gate? Here we can feel sympathy for Francis-Henri Graffard, who trains both in France and has yet to win the Arc, though the arc of his career suggests he will one day.
“Unfortunately my two best horses are geldings,” Graffard said at Ascot, before looking to the Breeders' Cup for targets. In other words France's loss could be world racing's gain. France Galop wouldn't be doing their job if they declined to place a magnifying glass over the apparent anomaly of Goliath dominating the King George and then being refused entry to the Arc.
If the change is made, most would ask that it's done not simply because French racing is a bit embarrassed in one specific and unusual year. It would have to be the right thing to do for all the years.
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