‡ "Protect the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe"? “Competition is a sin.” – John D. Rockefeller *** Through the embedded Coolmore link you can find a petition listing several objections to the recent decision to allow geldings to compete in Europe's most important 12f. race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. The decision was recently approved by France Galop, and ratified by the European Pattern Committee. Geldings will be allowed to enter beginning next year. I've written on the topic several times previously, but will respond specifically to each of the seven points raised in the petition. The excerpts from the petition are italicized below, and my responses are directly below them. 1. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is the emblematic race of French Flat racing. It has attracted an average of 15 to 16 runners over the past 20 years, coming from all the major racing nations. Its average rating is among the highest in the world every year, and often the highest. The Arc is the dream objective for the greatest owners and trainers worldwide. Why question a great French race that enjoys global prestige, attracts a strong field and consistently achieves an exceptionally high rating? ▶️ The only way that the prestige, strength, or number of entries in the race might decline, is if the owners and trainers of top colts and fillies were to lack the courage to test them against top geldings. The very same people who are signing the petition will have the choice in the future to support the race or not. If they choose not to, then they have only themselves to blame for any related degradations. 2. It is widely recognised that gelding can benefit horses, making them easier to train, improving their performance and potentially extending their racing careers. Over the past 20 years, a dense and highly lucrative international programme has been developed for these competitors, with prize money continuing to increase. Let us ensure that the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe remains different from these races in the Middle East, Asia and the United States, and continues to be the world’s premier selection race over 2,400 metres. ▶️ Gelding can benefit horses, but no one is likely to geld a well-bred horse that had demonstrated high-class potential, unless it had also displayed temperamental issues. The potential stud value would be too attractive. Furthermore, while it is true that some geldings are easier to train than some colts, I'd like those signing the petition to name a few high-class colts that demonstrated sufficient ability to win an Arc, but failed to do so because of temperamental issues. And conversely, how many geldings over the past, say, 25 years, have been sufficiently good to have been likely winners of the Arc? Finally, suggesting that extending the careers of top horses would be a bad thing for the industry reveals extraordinary degrees of irony, tone deafness, and apparent blindness to the powerful marketing value of long careers. The only reason that the Arc wouldn't retain its prestige, and "remain different" from other big races around the world, is if the connections of top colts were to be afraid to face the best runners entered, irrespective of gender. 3. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe derives much of its prestige and uniqueness from the fact that it is one of the few major races in the world over 2,400 metres reserved for future breeding prospects. It gives particular value to this distance at a time of year when a meaningful confrontation between three-year-olds and older horses can take place. Many owners and trainers of young horses are willing to take the gamble of facing older horses and, in some cases, tackling this distance for the first time. The presence of geldings could make them more reluctant to do so. France can be proud to host such a unique race, one that is admired and envied around the world. ▶️ No country has commercialized breeding to a greater extent than the U.S., and no race is more valuable to win, for stud purposes, than the Kentucky Derby, which has been open to geldings. There have been only nine gelded winners from 152 runnings of the KY Derby (~6%), and only two since 1930 (2%). Of the past 50 runnings, only two of the winners (Seattle Slew and Sunday Silence) have proven to have been exceptionally important sires (the book is still out on Nyquist and Justify). So if you combine how rare it is for geldings to win what is by far America's most important race, with how rarely the winners become truly important to the breeding industry, the likelihood of the two overlapping is exceedingly small. Why would it be any different for the Arc? Any owner or trainer connected with a colt or filly good enough the participate in the Arc should be considered cowardly to avoid the race because of the presence of a top-class gelding. If they want to reserve the right to market their runners as true Champions, and enjoy the inflated stud revenues that result from such awards, then they should damn well be willing to try them against the best runners entered, irrespective of gender. 4. There have been occasions when the Arc has attracted an excessively large field. If selection were to be based on prize money or ratings, it is likely that older geldings, who have had more opportunities to race and have competed in richly endowed races, would take places away from less exposed three-year-olds. ▶️ So what? If a supremely talented, underexposed three-year-old were to be excluded, it should have plenty of chances to prove its worth the following season. Daryz, the winner of the past two editions of the Arc, is a good example. Had he been excluded last year, he would have proven himself comprehensively this year. If winning two in a row was deemed to have been important, then his connections could have chosen keep him in training through five. Any horse that is good enough to win an Arc will almost invariably have opportunities to win other Group I races, and such successes will insure opportunities at stud. 5. The history of successful stallions clearly shows that it would be unwise to claim that certain races alone “make” stallions. It is important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture rather than give in to short-term trends. The Arc has produced outstanding stallions such as Ribot, Vaguely Noble, Mill Reef, Rainbow Quest, Montjeu and Sea The Stars. It has also been won many times by fillies and mares, and there is nothing to say that Ace Impact will not join that list. As it stands, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is a major target for the best colts from France, Britain, Ireland, Germany and Japan. It is likely that connections may be reluctant to travel if their horses are competing on unequal terms against geldings. ▶️ That first sentence is a carefully worded admission that the Arc is not a particularly important stallion-making race. To put the truth in sharper perspective, how many male winners of the Arc over the past 25 years have become what might reasonably be considered "important" sires? By my count, the number would be ONE – Sea the Stars. Is that the profile of a race that is so exceptionally important to the breeding world that the winners must be capable of reproducing? As for "competing on unequal terms against geldings", there is a simple solution: create a small weight handicap for geldings, similar to the allowances between males and females. 6. If the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is opened to geldings, where would we draw the line? What about the Classics, and why should they not follow the same path? Such a change could also encourage earlier and more widespread gelding. We should instead encourage owners and trainers to try to train high-class colts, even if doing so requires greater effort, skill and patience. If gelding were to become commonplace, what would be the long-term future of breeding and genetic selection? ▶️ Again, there is no evidence to support the claim that "widespread gelding" would occur due to the Arc, and/or other important races being opened up to them. There is too much economic incentive to keep talented colts intact. Not only in terms of potential stud value, but also reselling on the secondary market. Do the defenders of the previous status-quo believe that it would be bad for the sport and industry if the values of entirely unproven young sires were to be marginally diminished? Who might be harmed under such circumstances, and to what degree? And who might benefit? 7. This issue raises a genuine debate that deserves consultation with all the stakeholders concerned: trainers, owners, stallion owners, breeders and breeding authorities. We should not make such a decision without consulting those directly involved, in order to fully understand, assess and weigh the potential implications and consequences of such a fundamental change. ▶️ Ah, the icing on the dubious cake: "a genuine debate that deserves consultation with all the stakeholders concerned: trainers, owners, stallion owners, breeders and breeding authorities". Not a single mention of the countless racing fans and bettors worldwide, without whose support the industry wouldn't exist, amongst what they consider to be "all the stakeholders concerned". This is yet another illustration of how the racing industry is a microcosm of broader society. Wealthy "stakeholders" consulting amongst themselves about how best to insure that their bottom-lines are not damaged by changes at least partly driven by a push for greater egalitarianism. I stand firmly with France Galop and the European Pattern Committee, and hope that they will immediately see through this transparently self-serving call to protect the economic interests of the wealthiest "stakeholders" in the racing industry, at the expense of the masses who apparently should have no voice in related "consultations".