Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe: read what the vanquished had to say

After a double on Saturday George Scott probably felt he had used up all his good fortune in France, but he was left beaming with pride – if a little deflated – after Bay City Roller came within a length and a quarter of winning Europe’s biggest race.

History will show he chased home the first colt for the best part of half a century to win the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe back-to-back in Daryz, but from stall 15 Newmarket-based Scott was in awe at the performance of his horse and also jockey Oisin Murphy.

Yet to finish out of the first two this season, a drop back to 10 furlongs at Ascot on Qatar British Champions Day now beckons.

“I could see Daryz coming, but it was an incredible run,” said Scott. “What an amazing racehorse he is and what an amazing ride. He wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s got all the talent and ability to go with it.

“We came up second-best to an outstanding racehorse and congratulations to the connections. Francis (Graffard) is just a gentleman, he always comes and has a talk when I’m here, asks how I’m getting on and anything he can do to help. So congratulations to him, but we’re proud of our horse, what a machine he is.

“It’s an amazing run and he’s an amazing horse, we’ll go to the Champion Stakes and hopefully we get a little bit of rain. Second in the Arc, but we need to go one better.

“I’m not surprised he ran so well on that (good) ground, everyone seems to want to pigeonhole him as a mudlark, but he’s clearly not, I just think the ground is an aid to him.

“I think he stays in training so we’ll come back here next year.”

Ryan Moore apparently overlooked Diamond Necklace in favour of Benvenuto Cellini (ninth) after she was drawn in stall 16, but the dual French Classic winner fared much the best of the Ballydoyle trio, just a neck away from second.

“She ran a good race. We all knew she was a good filly,” said Aidan O’Brien. “You couldn’t say she didn’t stay a mile and a half, could you.

“Ryan missed it (the break) a little bit and said he maybe (Benvenuto Cellini) needs a stronger pace, William (Buick, on Minnie Hauk, 10th) said the same, he was trapped in and didn’t think the pace was strong.

“The Breeders’ Cup will be possible for Diamond Necklace, but the winner is a great horse.”

Friendly Soul was a late addition to the field but proved well up to the task in finishing fourth for John and Thady Gosden.

“She’s run a huge race, she picked up great in the straight and stayed on through the line,” said Thady Gosden.

“It was probably the best performance of her career as she was up against the best mile-and-a-half horses in Europe.

“We’ll see how she comes out of it, but in the (Breeders’ Cup) Filly & Mare Turf they will go a stride and a half quicker. She stays a mile and a half, but over a mile and a quarter they go that bit quicker so we’ll see. George (Strawbridge, owner) is from the US so it has to be under consideration.”

Andrew Balding said of the King George winner Kalpana, another place back in fifth, two better than last year: “She was fifth and she ran a bit better than last year but it wasn’t good enough today. She’s run a good race.

“I think we’ll have a look at Champions Day depending on how she comes out of it.”

Hollywood film producer and owner George Waud felt the William Haggas-trained Maltese Cross possibly lost his chance before the race even began.

He said: “We came sixth. The draw is so important and he’s normally such a level-headed horse, but he broke the parade and took off so it wasn’t a great start mentally.

“He seemed to have calmed down before he went in the stalls and Tom (Marquand) did an amazing job to get the position he did, but all that before the race and the effort to get across probably took it out of him.

“We’ve got a very nice invitation from Japan, but I think Maltese Cross has done enough – we’ll give him a holiday and see him next season.”

He added: “I was excited when Tom put him in a position where he could possibly win it, but then I could see he was spent. That was a difficult moment because you want your horse to turn the rockets on and charge, like he’s shown us before, but he’d spent too much trying to get into position.

“We’re not disappointed at all. We’re small owners and we had a conversation about two months ago about whether we went for the St Leger or the Arc – and I was like, ‘what are we talking about, this is unbelievable’.

“We came, we did our best and we’ll see you next year.”