Prix de l' Arc de Triomphe 2006

Longchamp has never seen so many people  attend this unique and well organised world championship event. Amongst the 60 000 racegoers  over 6 000 Japanese racing enthusiats came to support their favourite horse, Deep Impact.

Although the racegoers came in numbers, there were fewer   ladies with hats  taking part in the best hats competition organized by the magazine ' Madame Figaro' and the 'Arc' sponsors ' Lucien Barriere' ( see below some of the best captions).

Now, back to racing; this year's weather  was perfect  for  the big race. there were eight races on the card and six of them were Group 1 races.  The Prix de l' Arc de Triomphe being the last of the Group one races, the punters,  the showmen and showwomen all had time to impress!

The results:

• The first Group 1  race , the Prix du Cadran, was won by Sergeant Cecile (L. Dettori). Second place went to Shamdala  (c. Soumillon)
• The second Group 1 race , Prix de l' Abbey, was won by Desert Lord ( JP Spencer). Second place went to Reverence (K. Darley)
• The third Group 1 race , Prix de l' Opera, was won by Mandesha (C. Soumillon).  Satwa Queen (T. Tulliez)  came second
• The 4th Group 1 race , Prix Marcel Boussac, was won by Finsceal Beo( K. Manning). Darrfonah (K. Mc Evoy)  came second
• The 5th Group 1 race , Prix Jean Luc Lagardere, was won by Holy Roman Emp.  (K.F.  Fallon). Battle Paint (I. Mendizavbel) came second.
• And now the ultimate race. Favorite Hurricaine Run (son of the great Montjeu), last years winner was the one to beat! . And if you believed the many Japanese punters, Deep Impact was the one to do it! However, this time,  Hurricaine Run left it too late at the start of the straight line to catch up the 3 horses in front of him.  Although, the Japanese horse did well  from the start, it's timing of the sprint at the end could not match  that of the suprise winner of this year's Arc, which incindentally silenced the whole of  Longchamp.: Rail Link (S. Pasquier). Pride ( CP Lemaire) finished second and Deep Impact (Y. Take) third. A disappointment for the Japanese Horse but what a great race! ..Already looking forward to next year's event!

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