Beaten Snowfall drifts for Arc
ADAYAR TOPS LIST AFTER DEFEAT
SNOWFALL lost her place at the head of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe betting after a shock defeat at ParisLongchamp yesterday.
A victory in the Group One Prix Vermeille appeared a formality for Aidan O’Brien’s daughter of Deep Impact, who had followed a 16-length triumph in the Cazoo Oaks at Epsom with emphatic wins in the Irish version at the Curragh and the Yorkshire Oaks at York.
But Frankie Dettori’s mount suffered her first reverse of 2021, getting up in the closing stages to master pacemaking stablemate La Joconde and Hollie Doyle for second but no match for the Roger Varian-saddled length-anda-half winner Teona. “I thought I was too far back,” said Dettori. “Hollie probably didn’t go fast enough for me and it turned into a bit of a sprint.”
But the bookmakers were less forgiving. Snowfall, Ladbrokes’ 9-4 market leader at the start of trading yesterday, can now be backed for 6-1 for Europe’s middle-distance championship on October 3.
Charlie Appleby’s Derby hero Adayar was cut to 3-1 favourite (from 9-2), with Saturday’s Irish Champion Stakes runner-up Tarnawa next best at 100-30.
Adayar’s stablecompanion Hurricane Lane, who comfortably landed the Cazoo St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday, is 5-1.
Teona, a well-beaten 10th in the Oaks, is 14-1 in the Arc betting, and Varian said: “I don’t think it was a fluke – we’ll have to consider it.”
On an afternoon of frustration for Ballydoyle, a vaccination record irregularity saw O’Brien’s Bolshoi Ballet scratched from the Group Two Prix Niel, won by Bubble Gift, a 50-1 outsider for the Arc.
And Japanese hope Deep Bond foiled Broome in the Group Two Prix Foy to earn a quote of 16-1.
PAUL NICHOLLS paid tribute to “a brilliant friend” after the death at 70 of Andy Stewart, owner of legendary hurdler Big Buck’s.