DUBAI: Taghrooda can crown a vintage year for owner Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, by clinching victory in this weekend’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1), Europe’s premier flat race.
Not only would victory at vintage Longchamp in France on Sunday deliver a first Arc for Shaikh Hamdan, it would also secure him a maiden Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly award.
A dual Group One winner this season, Taghrooda heads the category — which in the past has been won by illustrious fillies like The Fugue (2012), Ouija Board (2004), Cape Verdi (1998), Bosra Sham (1996) and Balanchine (1994) — with 112 points.
However, unbeaten dual French Classic heroine Avenir Certain, who also contests Sunday’s €5 million (Dh23.3 million) feature, lurks in second position with 80 points. Should the impressive Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas) winner carry the day at Longchamp, she will most certainly eclipse Taghrooda in the race for the Cartier honour.
Eight past winners of the Arc have gone on to claim an award at the year-end gala, which is the equine equivalent of the Oscars, and trainer John Gosden must be on tenterhooks that his stable star can join that distinguished list.
Two-time British champion jockey Paul Hanagan said he was ‘really excited’ about teaming up with Taghrooda in the European showpiece.
“This is what it’s all about, big days like this. They don’t come much bigger, so I’m really excited,” he said on At The Races. “I think she’s a worthy favourite on the way she won the Oaks at Epsom and then the King George — she won well both times.
“So I think she’s got every right to head the market, although it’s going to be a tough race, there’s plenty of horses that go there with a good chance — especially the Japanese horses.
“She won’t shy away from anything. She can hold her own, she’s a big filly and she kind of rides like a colt, so that wouldn’t worry me.”
Taghrooda faces 19 rivals, among them the Japanese trio of Harp Star, Gold Ship and Just A Way,
The two-day Arc card in Paris also includes the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp, where the Edward Lynam-trained Sole Power (72) and Stepper Point (42), from the stable of William Muir, are among the leading contenders for the Cartier Sprinter Award.
The two featured juvenile races at Longchamp are a strong pointer to the future and this year’s renewal of the Group 1 Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere features Gleneagles (56) and The Wow Signal (48), who head the standings for the Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt Award.
