For any racing enthusiast, last weekend’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is always a punctuation mark in the calendar. Even if your racing starts and stops at Ripon, you can enjoy the best of the best competing on the verdant green of Longchamp, secure in the knowledge one or two might have launched their careers in novice events across Yorkshire. But the Arc may soon have a different complexion.
After months of discussion, France Galop opened up the premier middle distance race in France to geldings in June, to start in 2027. The decision, ostensibly designed to admit all the best horses into Europe’s leading race, has met with mixed reaction, and sows confusion as to the ultimate raison d’être of horseracing.
The simpletons among us would argue that the sport is mere entertainment: a challenge to find the fastest horse. Yet the sport is underwritten by a powerful lobby of breeders, for whom the pursuit of Group I winners represents the apogee of any horse’s career, and a route to riches in the breeding shed. Admitting geldings arguably makes their life less comfortable. This sounds like a case of the tail wagging the dog.
The purists among them, not motivated solely by commercial return, would argue that the edifice of the European Pattern is built around developing the Thoroughbred racehorse to become faster, sleeker, and a more efficient converter of oxygen into speed. Gelding reduces the primary source of testosterone, with a concomitant shift in behaviour that makes geldings more focused and easier to train. But if breeders have been pursuing improvement in the breed all these years, is it too simplistic a question to ask why horses are not getting faster?
Since Roger Bannister completed the 4 minute mile in May 1954, nearly 20 seconds have been shaved off that remarkable feat, the latest mile record set this summer in a Diamond League event in London, recording 3:42:66 by Josh Kerr. By contrast, the duration of the Arc since its creation in 1920 hasn’t really changed. Comrade, the British-trained 1920 winner, achieved the 1m4f in 2:39, while the fastest running was 10 years ago in 2016 when Found finished in 2:23:61. Neither of Daryz’s two successes have breached the 2:27 marker.
This argument therefore sounds like a lobby to protect the interests of breeders, and not an admirable challenge to find the fastest horse. International champions like Calandagan, Rebel’s Romance and Ethical Diamond, all of whom have achieved success at the highest level across Europe, the US and further afield. If more horses are gelded, surely this would encourage more to remain in training in pursuit of the biggest prizes in the sport across the globe?
There can be little doubt that winning the Arc can be the culmination of a horse’s career before heading to the breeding shed. Outstanding stallions such as Ribot, Vaguely Noble, Mill Reef, Rainbow Quest, Montjeu and Sea The Stars are among recent winners who have made the grade as breeders of Group-winning middle distance horses. Breeders argue that they might be less inclined to compete were they up against geldings, but by the same token, their absence would enable other currently excluded horses to compete. Racing is all about finding the fastest horse, right?
Leading French consignor, Henri Bozo, is the latest to weigh in against the inclusion of geldings, with a forceful letter backed by a petition that has gathered some high profile names across racing in and beyond France. The well-respected Bozo is underpinned by some hugely wealthy international breeders, and his petitioners are in the same boat. Hardly surprising that the likes of Coolmore opposed the change; as part of the elite breeding operators across the entire world, introducing geldings can only make their life a little harder.
France Galop’s change brings the Arc into line with some of the best middle-distance races in the world, like the Japan Cup, the Breeders’ Cup Turf, and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. Classics like the Guineas, Derby, Oaks and St Leger remain restricted to colts and/or fillies, although the Irish Leger took away the restriction some years ago.
France Galop’s instincts are correct I believe, and the prize funds for these prestigious races, which continue to climb year on year, make them attractive to win, and not merely a means to an end away from the racecourse. No decision is irreversible, but this debate appears far from over.
