Daryz makes history with back-to-back Arc de Triomphe triumphs

It was a very different, distinctly brutalist Longchamp that last saw a colt go back-to-back in the Arc, and 48 years on from Alleged’s second victory in 1978 with Lester Piggott holding the reins, the uber-modernist new grandstand rose to acclaim its first legend here on Sunday as Daryz produced the same, overwhelming turn of finishing speed down the straight that had carried him to victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe 12 months ago.

Daryz and Mickaël Barzalona did not hit the front until inside the final furlong, but they had been closing on Bay City Roller, who had disputed the lead for much of the way, to such effect from well over a furlong out that the result was in no real doubt.

Oisin Murphy had worked wonders to get Bay City Roller into contention from stall 15, and likewise Christophe Soumillon, on Aidan O’Brien’s Diamond Necklace, who finished strongly into third from the widest draw of all. But unlike some recent runnings of the Arc – Enable’s narrow defeat of Sea Of Class in 2018, for instance – there was no sense that swapping the draws might have changed the result. Daryz, quite simply, proved himself a class apart.

“To win this kind of race twice proves that Daryz is an exceptional horse,” Barzalona said. “It was a really tough race, it didn’t go as we expected but he showed his talent and that made the difference in the end.

“The pace was not strong, it was a rough race and nothing went to plan, but the horse deserved to win again and he’s proved all season he is the best one.”

For Francis-Henri Graffard, Daryz’s trainer, the win set the seal on another remarkable, championship-winning season, in which he has won more than twice as much prize money as the runner-up, André Fabre.

“He’s a champion,” Graffard said. “It’s rare I’m confident before a race as it is so hard in a race like this, but I knew things were going right and he’d be very hard to beat. I was confident. but I was putting so much pressure on myself [before the race] and you can make yourself look a fool, so it is easier not to speak and not say anything.

“We kept losing position early, we were too far back, but we were lucky Daryz has good acceleration.”

The only real disappointment on an otherwise perfect, sun-drenched afternoon at Longchamp was a clear hint afterwards that becoming only the sixth colt in Arc history to record back-to-back wins is as much history as Daryz will be able to make. No horse has ever won the Arc three times and Daryz seems sure to be completing his first season as a stallion with the Aga Khan Studs when the racing clans gather again in Paris next year.

“We’re breeders,” Princess Zahra Aga Khan, who has taken over the running of Aga Khan Studs since the death of her father in 2025, said afterwards. “You get to the point where you’re taking a risk every time you run the horse.

“He’s improved with age, that’s true, and the dam [Daryakana] did, but would we want him to train on for another year? I’m not sure. I think he has other things to do.”

In the likely absence of Daryz, it will be up to the beaten horses in Sunday’s race to represent the form in 12 months’ time, and George Scott’s Bay City Roller seems sure to be back next October after his fine run into second from out wide, on ground that was quicker than ideal.

“I could see Daryz coming, but it was an incredible run,” Scott, who saddled a Group-race double on Saturday’s card here, said afterwards. “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. Second in the Arc, but we need to go one better.”

By then, Daryz will likely be completing his first covering season at stud, but if Sunday’s race was indeed his final flourish on the track, the sight of his first foals setting foot on a racecourse in 2030 will at least summon up memories of an outstanding colt and a special afternoon at Longchamp.