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Amidst a backdrop of disappointing sports events, the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp captured attention with its blend of high stakes and high-flying commentary from Frankie Foster and Francesca Cumani.
Once in a blue moon, some of us decide to take a break from sport-watching, the very brief hiatus usually prompted by a dismal set of events, like the ones we witnessed in Serbia on Saturday afternoon.
That’s when you opt for some light entertainment of the non-sporting kind, just to cleanse your skull, so it was a choice between Shrek 2, Formula One and horse racing come Sunday afternoon. The Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France, the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, not to mention Ireland at home to Israel in Serbia. It’s a complicated world. But in the end the horses won out.
Virgin Media brought us Racing TV’s coverage of the occasion, and safe to say they were rather up for it.
“Paris begins in light, a soft gold rising over the Seine, the first shimmer on the iron lace of the Eiffel Tower,” our host Tom Stanley began, before Frankie Foster joined in on the ode. “The Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is more than just a horse race, it’s a test of balance and bravery, of poise and power, where everything is asked for and nothing is hidden. ” The contenders?
“When the moment comes they must turn beauty into destruction. ” And there was us thinking it was just a horse race. But a very special one in the horsey world, of course, staged at the highly lovely setting of Longchamp. And Frankie had quite the view over the course when he joined Francesca Cumani in a big airborne glass box that appeared to be dangling from a single wire in the sky.
“You can have a glass of champagne, a macaron and watch the racing from on high,” he said of the “Sommet de l’Arc”; the fellah looking a little green around the gills as he noted just how far he was from earth. Francesca was perfectly chilled, but you feared the macaron Frankie had just eaten was about to make a reappearance.
Those of us who wouldn’t know an important horse race from an onion ring do, of course, need to become invested in some manner so as to pique our interest, so the only way, really, to do this is to pick a winner. Arrow Eagle was tempting, simply because its owner is a person called Waltraut Spanner, and there was a soft spot too for Kalpana because when Frankie spoke to her trainer Andrew Balding he was quite rude about her.
“Until last year, she was always carrying excess condition,” he said, which was as good as calling her a fat bird. “But this year she’s sleeker, leaner ... I have no idea why. ” Mounjaro?
He didn’t say. Then there was Bay City Roller, and you kind of had a vision of him hollering “Bye bye baby” as he overtook a rival in the final inches, but in the end it was Daryz who subjected that very fate to the Roller. Kalpana, perhaps still carrying a bit too much weight, finished fifth, while Arrow Eagle was a distant 12th. You could but hope his backers didn’t label him a spanner.
Daryz, then, as commentator Simon Holt told us, became the first colt to win the Arc two years running since 1978, although Tom pointed out that this stat isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be because most Arc winners are retired and sent off to make babies, studs that they are. There’s a chance England will send Harry Kane to stud soon, such is their hope that he can sire more goalscorers of his quality.
He was at it again against Croatia in Rijeka, scoring twice in a slightly comprehensive 7-0 triumph. An odd occasion it was too. The game was technically played behind closed doors, because of unruly behaviour by the Croatians before, but the stadium was in fact populated by 6,000 local schoolchildren.
Some rude people suggested that their high-pitch screaming was a welcome smothering of Lee Dixon’s co-commentary, Virgin Media’s Tommy Martin suggesting at half-time that “the only hope for the home side is that England get done by the prevention of cruelty to children people”.
“Croatia look ancient,” said Richard Dunne. “Their midfield pairing have a combined age of 74,” said Tommy. “They look 74 each,” said Richard. Come full-time, the 6,000 kids in attendance probably wished they’d taken a break from watching sport too.
Qatar Prix De L'arc De Triomphe Horse Racing Longchamp Frankie Foster Francesca Cumani
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