2009 Arc.

Amazing horse, and great to be there. What I only realised late last night was I only watched Sea the Stars throughout the race, despite not having a penny on him and a couple of small bets on others.

Great to see him win, and I hope people can now (eventually) see Youmzain is a top class horse over 1m4 with the pace such as usually provided by the Arc.

Cavalryman ran a stormer, and I look forward to more from him. Dar re mi must be close to filly of the year, and Conduit ran a cracker and will be very, very hard to beat back at Santa Anita, and looks at this early stage to be the most likely European winner.

Great for John Oxx, and especially with Kinane's comments about him becoming hairy in his coat, I hope that is it.

Some very good posts by Ardross re-reading this thread.

Also, I got soaked in Paris this morning! If the race was run today, the amount of rain that fell would have made a difference to the ground.
 
Bearing in mind how calm he was at Leop and the way he got a bit warm yesterday and pulled would you say he's had enough this year ? First time I've seen him look anyway wound up.

Oxx said today that he can see now how `Nijinsky lost the Arc - he thinks he lost it in the Parade Ring. He remarked that Longchamp is very closed in and that the crowds pre-race are very in the horses' faces - esp for STS yesterday. And given everyone on track wanted to get near the horse, the fact he only got a bit warm pre-race is remarkable.

Oxx's HL Slim O'Neill said on ATR this afternoon that STS had had a tremendously tiring trip, never mind the race, with the constant attention from the moment he arrived at Longchamp

Re F&G is there any plan to send him to Newmarket? I think they should have saved him for that - it was his to lose; but should not send him now - he's had a very hard season indeed and seems already bottomed to me.

On the other hand if STS went for the race I think he'd win easily. He's never had to go to the bottom of the well or anywhere near it. But there would be no point, he's beaten all those contenders already!
 
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Absolutely love that youtube clip!

Me too, it gives you a quite different sensation form the officical race coverage, much more like being there in spite of the poor quality of the vid

Has anyone found a YouTube of the coverage with commentary by - I guess Simon Holt, as played in ATR this morning? Proper commentary, very good

Oxx said Mick K had trouble pulling the horse up - looked like he wanted to go round again! Such a shame he couldn't take in the St Leger on his way :lol:
 
FWW: fabulous clip! In fact, no worse than the French cameras, which were pathetique! It gives a much better idea of the long downhill sweep before the final turn into the straight, and I love the feeling of being behind the person in front of the camera - plus the yelling "COME ON, SEA THE STARS!" was super - we didn't hear that on the tv, just the commentary and the background roars. Lovely stuff, thanks.
 
Great to see him win, and I hope people can now (eventually) see Youmzain is a top class horse over 1m4 with the pace such as usually provided by the Arc.


Interesting interview with Jimmy Fortune today on ATR at Windsor: he said that although visually the pace looked slow due to the long lead of the pacemakers, in fact it wasn't; he said they were going a good clip and the race was truly run at 'proper pace'
 
Even more interestingly Jimmy said he thought he was going to beat STS in the Eclipse but he soon realised that STS was " toying " with RVW - a very strong word and another reason why ratings will always underrate this horse by a long way.
 
Wonderful footage - that head getting in the way actually shows how spectacularly he quickened - a matter of a few seconds and he had mown them all down.
 
Back from the Aga Khan benefit day (on Sunday) – apart from a missing fortune had a tremendous time.

Weather kept fine for the racing (with the rain arriving a day too late for the opposition to STS). It was good to meet and catch up. A great pleasure to meet Hamm and his mate for the first time.

Missed the Prix Dollar on the Saturday but had my second biggest bet of the meeting on Famous Name (my only bet on Saturday). On Sunday lost on Fleeting Spirit and Fame And Glory (who I backed again for a place on course, together with a wad of ante-post vouchers worth nothing), but won with a couple of modest wagers on Rosanara and Alandi. So overall got stuffed. Fortunately I decided not to back Goldikova (on Saturday) otherwise it would have been even worse.

STS was splendid in victory in the Arc. Fame was lengthening in the closing stages but simply not quick enough (I was disappointed he couldn’t quicken better than he did).

Yeats gallant in defeat in the Cadran. Paris in the evening finished up my remaining euros. Worth every cent!
 
FWW: fabulous clip! In fact, no worse than the French cameras, which were pathetique! It gives a much better idea of the long downhill sweep before the final turn into the straight, and I love the feeling of being behind the person in front of the camera - plus the yelling "COME ON, SEA THE STARS!" was super - we didn't hear that on the tv, just the commentary and the background roars. Lovely stuff, thanks.


I've looked at it about 30 times:D,the roar from the crowd at the 2f pole gives me goosebumps every time,love the "Come on Sea The Stars" shouts:cool::<3:
 
Do you think we'll have Christmas cards with the shouts inside, as we did with BEST MATE and Simon Holt's final screamed words? :lol:
 
A great pleasure to meet Hamm and his mate for the first time.

Second that. Shame we didn't catch up Steve. Watched the Arc with Hamm and I think we were all applauding about 2 out!

Finally home last night after the Eurostar broke down for 90 minutes in Ashford and they had to put us on a new train which was pretty annoying. Mark Winstanley was also onboard though so it's probably fate. This on top of getting punched by some scumbag in a bar on Sat night and a 7am fire alarm in our hotel. All worth it to see the champion though.
 
Second that. Shame we didn't catch up Steve. Watched the Arc with Hamm and I think we were all applauding about 2 out!

Finally home last night after the Eurostar broke down for 90 minutes in Ashford and they had to put us on a new train which was pretty annoying. Mark Winstanley was also onboard though so it's probably fate. This on top of getting punched by some scumbag in a bar on Sat night and a 7am fire alarm in our hotel. All worth it to see the champion though.

Great to meet up with you both. Great day all round.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry GS, when I heard you shout 'Youmzain's going to chin him!'!
 
Second that. Shame we didn't catch up Steve. Watched the Arc with Hamm and I think we were all applauding about 2 out!

…I still had my eyes fixed on Fame at that point.

Would have been great to see you GS. Hamm mentioned that he’d be meeting up with you but I had to return to the O&T bit to join up with a couple of (other) reprobates.

Sounds like you had a colourful evening… great to be there I agree.
 
Great to meet up with you both. Great day all round.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry GS, when I heard you shout 'Youmzain's going to chin him!'!

For a split second it did look that way! I was more worried because I had pledged to give racing up to several people if Youmzain had won!
 
I thought Fame and Glory had a rough enough passage. With a clear run he might have made third or fourth. He might be better suited by Newmarket rather than Santa Anita.

I'd certainly rather see him run at Newmarket than in the BC. But I'd much sooner they finish him off now so they're sure of something good next season.
 
No fair play to the old dog, he loves Longchamp and got given a great ride by Fallon. I just think the campaigning of the horse is mental, there are shed loads of Group 2s and 3s over middle distances at Longchamp, why not mop these up rather than going for these crap Group Ones in Germany or pitching in too high in Dubai and the Coronation?

I thought he was an awful price on what he'd achieved this year but those who argued he was value on his record at Longchamp we're proved right.
 
I just think the campaigning of the horse is mental, there are shed loads of Group 2s and 3s over middle distances at Longchamp, why not mop these up rather than going for these crap Group Ones in Germany or pitching in too high in Dubai and the Coronation?

I thought he was an awful price on what he'd achieved this year but those who argued he was value on his record at Longchamp we're proved right.

I don't think the Coronation was a bad idea, he ran a cracker in it the year before. He should never have gone to Dubai though.
 
No fair play to the old dog, he loves Longchamp and got given a great ride by Fallon. I just think the campaigning of the horse is mental, there are shed loads of Group 2s and 3s over middle distances at Longchamp, why not mop these up rather than going for these crap Group Ones in Germany or pitching in too high in Dubai and the Coronation?

The prize money for finishing second in the Arc was greater that what he would have gained for winning the 4 12f Group 1's in Germany, the Gran Premio de Milano and the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud.
 
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