The national anthem was played 14 times at the Olympics in Paris during the summer and it rang out one more time across the Bois de Boulogne when Ralph Beckett’s filly Bluestocking – one of only two British runners in this year’s race – took gold in the 103rd Qatar Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe.
Supplemented on Wednesday for the race worth nearly £2.5 million to the winner, she was given a superbly uncomplicated ride by Rossa Ryan who made the most of her low draw, was never worse than third, used Aidan O’Brien’s first string Los Angeles as a pacemaker and never left the rail except to overtake the leader at the top of the straight.
Having hit the front two furlongs out, the filly extended all the way to the line and, although that can be a long way when you are out in front on soft ground, the nightmare scenario of having another horse run her down late on as stablemate Westover had been by Ace Impact 12 months ago never materialised.
Indeed, she never faltered to win by a length and a quarter from Aventure – the same one-two from the Prix Vermeille three weeks earlier – with Los Angeles hanging in there for third with the favourite, Sosie, in fourth.
Bluestocking’s victory was a seventh in the race for the Juddmonte silks of the late Khalid Abdullah – a record – and she became the ninth filly or mare to win in the last 14 years. Yet again a Japanese hope was dashed by the mud with Shin Emperor finishing 12th, one place in front of Look De Vega, the disappointing French Derby winner whose reputation has lost some gloss since his best day in June.
Bluestocking is probably in a league of her own in that her finest hour also reduced her trainer to tears, his hands shaking, as he recalled watching Detroit win the race in 1980 on television. “We all start with a handful of horses [five in his case] and don’t expect to get to this point,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion. “To have her and have her develop as she has is extraordinary.
“I was reminiscing with my daughter, Katinka, about the first Arc I saw won by Detroit. I remember Rainbow Quest and Dancing Brave and all those great winners. I thought the Vermeille might have left its mark and wasn’t sure we’d brought her back in the same shape.
“But last week, this week, I couldn’t find a reason not to run and we looked under every stone. To come back from the King George, the Juddmonte, the Vermeille to here, it’s extraordinary. It’s a tribute to her constitution. She’s danced all these dances, got beat and has still come back.
“The draw helped, she was in the right place throughout, everything went to plan. I was looking for something to come and get her like one did with Westover but I knew it would take a good one to get past her. We’ve won the Oaks a couple of times but, sure, it’s our best-ever day.”
Her Galway-born jockey Ryan, 24, cut his teeth riding 150 pony winners in Ireland and is one of the rising stars of the weighing room; a champion in waiting. But this, his fourth Group One and third on the filly who he will always regard as the horse that made him, was by far his biggest winner.
“When I dissected the form, I was pretty confident but not confident enough to tell anyone. I’m just the lucky one to be on her,” he said. “The Vermeille won the Arc for us. That day I was drawn wide and had to go forward and we kept the same plan today. In the straight it was just get to the line.”
Ryan’s father David, a former jockey and trainer turned paramedic, spent time riding for a jump trainer in nearby Maisons-Laffitte in his youth. This, though, was a very happy return to Paris for him and his wife Deirdre and daughter Holly. “That’s a definite upgrade on pony racing,” joked the man who forfeited holidays to drive his son across Ireland to get to the events that have shaped his career.
“It’s unbelievable. I served my time in Maisons-Laffitte, just to be here on Arc day is an honour, to have your son win the race is something else.”
As the sun set on the autumn colours of the woods which separate Longchamp from metropolitan Paris, Bluestocking’s victory marked the end of a golden summer of sport in Paris in great style.
