Daryz dazzles in Arc de Triomphe to catch hot favourite Minnie Hauk in dying strides

Pedigree was the key to the puzzle of the 104th Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe here on Sunday, as Daryz stayed on strongly to collar Minnie Hauk, the favourite, in the storied green-and-red colours of the late Aga Khan IV, his breeder, who died in February. “He was born for this,” Princess Zahra Aga Khan, his daughter, said afterwards. “On both sides, sire and dam, they were Group One winners at the distance, so he was born to get 2,400m and I think it showed today.”

Sunday’s race was just the seventh start of Daryz’s career, all in his three-year-old season, and his first at a mile-and-a-half. He is the seventh Arc winner for the racing and breeding operation founded by the third Aga Khan in 1921, a sequence that stretches back to Migoli’s success in 1948, and also the first winner in the green and red silks since the unbeaten Zarkava’s success, with Christophe Soumillon in the saddle, back in 2008.

Soumillon, who also rode Dalakhani to victory in the same colours in 2003, was a major player in the latest running too, and briefly seemed to have made a winning move on Minnie Hauk heading into the final furlong. Ultimately, though, it was in a supporting role, as Mickaël Barzalona and Daryz emerged from the pack to chase down Aidan O’Brien’s filly by a head, with Sosie, fourth last year, going one place better this time around but nearly six lengths behind the runner-up.

This was a first Arc success for both Barzalona and Francis-Henri Graffard, Daryz’s trainer, and set the seal on an outstanding season for Graffard, who also took the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July with the gelding Calandagan, who was barred from lining up for Sunday’s race.
One of very few setbacks for the stable this season, in fact, was Daryz’s disappointing run behind Ombudsman in the International Stakes at York in August, but Graffard feels the experience contributed to his colt’s success on Sunday. “When I was planning to run at York, I said to Princess Zahra, ‘we are not going to win, but we need to toughen him up for the autumn’,” Graffard said, “and I think the defeat at York helped us to win today because my horse was, for the first time, very professional and mature.

Daryz and Mickaël Barzalona return in triumph after the Prix de l'Arc Triomphe. Photograph: Steven Cargill/racingfotos.com/Shutterstock

“It’s a great experience and today was exactly what we planned to do. My horse was very tough to catch up with the filly. To win the Arc today in these colours is just crazy. In the past, it was just a dream, but now it’s happening to me.”

Barzalona famously won the Derby at Epsom as a 19-year-old in 2011 aboard André Fabre’s Pour Moi, when he stood up in the saddle before the line to celebrate what was a very narrow victory. There was no chance for a similar flourish on Sunday but immense satisfaction all the same that his extended wait for an Arc winner is at an end.

“We’ve always rated him,” Barzalona said. “When we went to York it was a messy race, but he came back a lot stronger. Mentally and physically, he has improved a lot and today he was very relaxed. He travelled very well, he picked up very well. Everything combined today to win the race.”

Minnie Hauk, unbeaten in her four previous starts this season, ran up to her best form and was a long way clear of the third horse home. There is every chance that she will stay in training at four, with a return trip to Longchamp at the top of her to-do list.

“No excuses,” Soumillon said. “When I felt Mickael coming in the last 200 [metres], I kept a little back for the end and we went together, but his horse has a strong dash and he loves the ground. If you take him out, she would have been one of the most impressive Arc-winning fillies, but that’s racing.”

There are no plans as yet for Sunday’s winner, but the final word on the 2025 Arc undoubtedly belongs to Daryz’s owner, the third generation of her family to welcome back an Arc winner. “This is the pinnacle for a breeder,” Princess Zahra said. “My dad was always so over the moon to win an Arc, and now I know what it felt like.”