3 minute read
Sakhee (2001) - TF Rating 135; Sinndar (2000) - TF Rating 134; Hurricane Run (2005) - TF Rating 134; Treve (2013) - TF Rating 134; Dalakhani (2003) - TF Rating 133
Sakhee (2001) - TF Rating 135
Sakhee absolutely trounced the field in the eightieth running of Europe's premier middle-distance prize, putting up a display that had most observers searching for superlatives. With neither Galileo nor (understandably) his stable-companion Fantastic Light in the line-up, let alone the likes of Morshdi or Nayef, it can't be argued that he was opposed by the best in training, though the manner in which he stormed up the straight suggested that all of the aforementioned would have struggled to cope with him. That is supposition, but the reality is that Sakhee produced a performance which hasn't yet been topped in the Arc this century.
Sinndar (2000) - TF Rating 134
Derby winner Sinndar crowned a fine season with a splendid victory, perfectly ridden in a race which dropped ideally for him. Leading for a furlong or so before tucking in behind his pacemaker, Sinndar took up the running again on the home turn and typically dug deep for firm handling, running on strongly and, if anything, going away again at the death. Sinndar had a relatively weak field to cope with but he was as tough and genuine a horse as you could wish to see, and he retired to stud with a record of seven victories from eight starts, including four Group 1 wins.
Hurricane Run (2005) - TF Rating 134
Hurricane Run took his time to warm to his task in the 2005 Arc, running in snatches for much of the race, but there's no doubt he was far superior to his rivals on the day, producing an impressive surge to peg back the runner-up and win going away, stamping himself as the best middle-distance colt in Europe in 2005.
Hurricane Run won five of his six starts as a three-year-old, the only defeat coming in the Prix du Jockey Club at the hands of the high-class Shamardal who benefited from a fine front-running ride. Hurricane Run perhaps failed to live up to expectations as a four-year-old, unable to repeat the top-class form that he'd shown in winning the Arc, though he did still win 2 Group 1 races, bringing his overall tally of top-level successes to four.
Treve (2013) - TF Rating 134
A much-anticipated edition of Europe's richest race had lost one of its main contenders when Novellist was ruled out the day before with a fever, though even the King George winner would surely have struggled to cope with Treve who put up a stunning performance, looking the winner when joining issue early in the straight before quickening clear of 2012 runner-up and favourite Orfevre to become the third filly in succession to win the race after just one in the previous 17 renewals. An unbeaten winner of the Prix de Diane and Prix Vermeille beforehand, like the 2008 winner Zarkava, Treve bettered even that filly's effort to put up one of the best Arc-winning performances by a 3-y-o filly, and the best seen by one of her age/sex since Habibti's Prix de l'Abbaye success on this card 30 years earlier.
Treve would, of course, retain her Arc crown the following season, bouncing back from three defeats brought on by physical problems, and she looks to hold outstanding claims as she bids to become the first three-time winner of the race, arrving on the back of a stunning success in the Prix Vermeille.
Dalakhani (2003) - TF Rating 133
Dalakhani's fine season was capped with a career-best display in the Arc - racing against older horses for the first time - as he was produced under a confident ride to cut down his rivals up the straight, getting the job done with a degree of authority, nosing ahead a furlong out and keeping on well. The only blip in Dalakhani's nine-race career came when narrowly defeat by his owner's Alamshar in the Irish Derby, and there was absolutely no disgrace in that, simply losing out to another top-class racehorse. A half-brother to the outstanding Daylami - whose own Arc chances had been scuppered by heavy ground in 1999 - Dalakhani was effective on most types of going, straightforward and blessed with a fine turn of foot.