France: Ace Impact makes statement with Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victory
Ace Impact answered all questions and punctuated his response with an exclamation point by storming to a 1 3/4-length victory Sunday at Longchamp in the $5.29 million Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
The 3-year-old who had never raced beyond 1 5/16 miles before Sunday was making his first start at Longchamp, and while he’d romped in the French Derby this summer, Ace Impact was taking on far stronger competition than he’d previously encountered.
None of that mattered. Mirco Demuro rode the colt with supreme confidence and Ace Impact validated his jockey’s tactics by getting his final 600 meters in a withering 33.06 seconds. Third-last at the start of that sectional, Ace Impact was pulled wide at the 400-meter mark, Demuro coming outside the horse he’d followed around the turn, Fantastic Moon, as his mount immediately launched himself into contention.
Westover had stalked the pace along the rail before moving three wide to take the lead at the 300-meter mark, but Ace Impact collared him with a furlong left to run and Demuro came across the wire pumping his fist at the crowd.
“He has no limits,” Demuro said in French while coming back to be unsaddled.
None has yet been found. Ace Impact is 6 for 6 and only once has tallied by less than one length. He won the French Derby by 3 1/2 lengths and, while getting six pounds from his older male rivals Sunday, Ace Impact clearly was their superior.
Now comes the question: What’s next?
Trainer Jean-Claude Rouget, who won his second Arc in four years following Sotsass’s success in 2020, said he and the colt’s owners, Gousserie Racing and Serge Stempniak, would decide in coming days whether Ace Impact would return as a 4-year-old or be retired to stud. Stempniak has owned Ace Impact from the start of his racing career after Rouget picked him out at auction, with Gousserie, the nom de course of the Chehboub Family, buying in after the French Derby.
Ace Impact will stand stud at the Chehbous’ Haras de Beaumont upon his retirement. The 3-year-old is by Cracksman out of Absolutly Me, by Anabaa Blue. Cracksman is by Frankel, who sired the second- and third-place finishers, Westover and Onesto.
The Arc is part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, but it appears there’s little chance Ace Impact will show up at Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup Turf. The two behind him, however, appreciate fast-playing turf like they got Sunday, and both Westover and Onesto, who was beaten just a nose for second, could be BC Turf-bound.
Westover, who definitely is being aimed toward Santa Anita, broke from post 1 under Rob Hornby, cleaved to the rail until coming into the homestretch, found room when he needed it and simply was outfinished. Onesto raced near the back of the pack and followed Ace Impact’s move, and while he couldn’t match the winner’s initial acceleration, Onesto did get his final 200 meters in a field-best 10.99.
The Arc was contested over much quicker going than usual, but even accounting for that, Ace Impact’s final time of 2:25.50 was strong, the race’s fastest clocking since Bago went 2:25 in 2004.
Ace Impact began his career in the shadows debuting over the all-weather track at Cagnes-Sur-Mer in January. He won very well that day, but who could have seen such a horse going on to become a Derby and Arc winner?
Rouget ran him second time out at Bordeaux Le Bouscat, a minor provincial racecourse, and it wasn’t until the French Derby, the Prix du Jockey Club, that Ace Impact made his group stakes debut. Rouget, looking forward to the Arc and backward to the early start of Ace Impact’s season, decided to give the colt only one start before the Arc, the Group 2 Prix Guillaume d’Ornano on Aug. 15 at Deauville. Ace Impact did not especially shine that day, winning by three quarters of a length over inferior competition, but the race obviously served its purpose.
The Japanese filly Through Seven Seas, who raced just inside Ace Impact most of the way, wove between rivals in the homestretch for a commendable fourth. She was followed across the line by Continuous, who ran well after capturing the 1 3/4-mile St. Leger in his previous start.
Neither of those, nor any of his 14 rivals, was any match for Ace Impact, a hot winner on a warm Sunday in Paris.
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