Sottsass wins Arc for Brant; Enable finishes sixth

Sottsass surged between horses in the homestretch and won the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe by about a neck over In Swoop as Enable failed for the second year in a row to become the first three-time Arc winner.

Four-year-old Sottsass, third in the 2019 Arc, is owned by Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm, a rare Arc win for an American owner.

The first five home in the race were French-trained, with pacesetting Persian King holding third. Gold Trip was fourth, and the 3-year-old filly Raabihah, who raced in heavy stretch traffic, finished fifth.

After a week of rain, the race was contested over heavy, laboring ground and run at a slow pace with a bunched field. In fact, Sottsass had to survive a long inquiry involving the actions of jockey Cristian Demuro around the 400-meter mark. Sottsass had sat in the pocket behind the leader much of the trip, and when Demuro tipped him out for his final run, Sottsass crossed into the path of trailing horses causing a chain reaction that affected several of his rivals, including Enable. But the horse nearest Sottsass, Chachnak, had an overreaction to Sottsass’s move and after a couple looks at the replay it seemed clear the result would stand.

Four Aidan O’Brien-trained entrants – Japan, Mogul, Serpentine, and Sovereign – were scratched from the Arc over fears that feed tainted with an illegal drug, zilpaterol, could trigger a positive drug test.

It was a first Arc win for Italian-born Demuro, who long has been the pilot for Sottsass, the 2019 French Derby winner. It also was a first Arc, somewhat remarkably, for Jean-Claude Rouget, one of France’s leading trainers for years.

Sottsass, a 7-1 shot on the North American tote, had a somewhat lackluster 2020 campaign before Sunday’s breakthrough, his only win from four starts a narrow decision over Way to Paris in the Prix Ganay on June 14. Rouget sent Sottsass to Ireland for his final Arc tune-up, and Sottsass’s fourth-place finish over 1 1/4 miles in the Irish Champion Stakes evidently was just what he needed to hit his peak for the Arc.

“It was not easy to prep for this race this year,” Rouget said. “We did some choices that were not easy to take.”

Sottsass is by Siyouni out of Starlet’s Sister, by Galileo, making him a sister to the American champion Sistercharlie. He emerged from relative obscurity last spring to capture the French Derby, a milestone victory for longtime owner Brant, who also campaigns Sistercharlie.

Demuro worked out a perfect trip with a major assist from Sottsass, who put himself right into the race and tracked the pacesetter while always saving ground. Sottsass has shown before he can handle soft turf, and when Demuro pulled out and asked Sottsass to kick, the 4-year-old colt gave what he needed.

In Swoop, who’d been second three weeks ago in the Prix Niel, also got an inside trip, but his flying finish up the inside fell just short of the winner as Persian King, going a distance longer than he’d ever raced, held solidly for the show.

“Today was the day for him,” Demuro said. “He has a good turn of foot. This year, every time he was close, and last time when he had a good race in Ireland, he woke up. He was 100 percent ready today.”

Final time for the Arc was a very slow 2:39.80, a sign of just how demanding the conditions were Sunday, and the toiling slog was not to the liking of Enable, the Arc winner in 2017 and 2018. Last year, racing on very soft turf, Enable made a bold bid and took the lead in the homestretch, only to be run down late by Waldgeist, finishing second. But this time, in what likely was her final start, she never looked like herself over going her trainer, John Gosden, had warned over the weekend was likely to get her beat. And it did – Enable came home a never-threatening sixth.

“It could be sad, could be my last time on her,” longtime pilot Frankie Dettori said. “I knew my fate at the 400 [meter mark]. She hated the ground.”

Sottsass didn’t mind it at all. No third Arc for Enable, but a first for Demuro, Rouget, and Brant.