'He was the best European-trained two-year-old for many a year' | Timeform: The Great Essays - ARAZI
As we launch our new 'Timeform Great Essays' series, what better way to kick off than by looking back on the opinion of Breeders' Cup hero Arazi in 'Racehorses of 1992'.
ARAZI (USA) 3 ch.c. Blushing Groom (FR) 131-Danseur Fabuleux (USA) 106 (Northern Dancer (CAN)) - 124
There is an old saying that if something looks too good to be true it probably is. So what of Arazi, hailed as the wonder of the age after a spectacular victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile but regarded as a flop as a three-year-old? Arazi's demonstrable superiority over the best two-year olds in North America - following a string of victories in the top races in France - kindled the imagination of the racing public on both sides of the Atlantic. To some in America Arazi was 'the new Secretariat'.
The conviction that Arazi was destined to join the gallery of the famous was echoed the racing world over. Drawing on Benjamin Franklin's famous observation, Geoff Lester introduced his preview in The Sporting Life of the Kentucky Derby with the statement: 'If there is a third certainty after death and taxes, it is surely that Arazi will win the 118th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs today'.
Odds-on Arazi's eighth-of-eighteen placing behind Lil E Tee in the Kentucky Derby left the racing world stunned. The reasons for his finishing so far down the field - he folded abruptly after surging through to dispute second on the home turn - were debated fiercely. Some blamed Valenzuela for having had Arazi too far back early on and then moving him up too quickly. Valenzuela countered that he had ridden Arazi much the same as in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. 'He ran by horses easily and it was only at the quarter pole that I really asked him to run... I thought I was just going to inhale them. I thought there was no way I could get beat,' Valenzuela said.
Valenzuela's explanation for the defeat was that 'Arazi didn't get home', meaning he didn't stay a mile and a quarter. The question of Arazi's state of readiness also came up. The much-publicised operation on the horse's knees after the Breeders' Cup Juvenile kept him on the side-lines longer than his trainer would have liked. Boutin's protestations after the race that Arazi had had a 'hurried preparation' might have been received more sympathetically, however, had he not been widely quoted beforehand as saying that the colt was in tip-top form.
Arazi had been warmed up in a listed event at Saint-Cloud in early-April: none of his seven rivals, whom he met at levels, had won a pattern race and Arazi completed a straightforward task in the style expected. Arazi's untaxing preparation contrasted with the much more demanding schedule of most of the American-trained Kentucky Derby runners. The winner Lil E Tee, for example, had four races before Churchill Downs, while the second and third, Casual Lies and Dance Floor, had three apiece.
Arazi's running in the Kentucky Derby didn't immediately suppress expectations that he would prove himself a great three-year-old. The Kentucky Derby was the first poor race he'd run. The next step could have been to send Arazi on to the second leg of the American triple crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. One noted American commentator, Andrew Beyer of the Washington Post, asserted that 'Arazi would annihilate his rivals in the manner that had been expected of him at Churchill Downs'. It was Beyer's view that 'a more fit, more seasoned Arazi would have won the Kentucky Derby...I cannot believe that the awesome running machine we saw last fall is congenitally incapable of running a final quarter mile in 26.4 sec and out finishing the likes of Lil E Tee'.
Britain's leading owner Sheikh Mohammed had taken a half-share in Arazi with the original owner Allen Paulson before the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and there had been some talk of Arazi's attempting the Churchill Downs-Epsom 'Durby-Darby' double. As things turned out, Arazi wasn't seen on a racecourse again until Royal Ascot where he started odds-on for the St James's Palace Stakes, which also attracted Rodrigo de Triano, winner of the Two Thousand Guineas at both Newmarket and the Curragh before disappointing in the Derby.
The St James's Palace received enormous publicity but neither Arazi nor Rodrigo de Triano reached a place behind the 25/1-shot Brief Truce. Arazi looked fit and on good terms with himself beforehand but managed only fifth, beaten about two and a half lengths by the winner, leaving the impression that the best had probably been seen of him. There were many who thought Arazi would bow out. 'Europeans,' Beyer had told his readers, 'seem obsessed with avoiding defeat. They habitually duck and dodge competition and retire their horses prematurely; when they run and lose they respond with a litany of excuses'.
The damage that can be done to a horse's value for stud by a number of defeats is something that top European racehorse owners generally seem much more concerned about than their American counterparts. The decision to carry on with Arazi after Royal Ascot was praiseworthy but, alas, it proved largely unproductive. After an eleven-week absence, Arazi was declared for the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp, only to be withdrawn at the eleventh hour.
He did run a fortnight later in the Prix du Prince d'Orange, a recognised Prix de l'Arc trial over a mile and quarter at Longchamp in September, and came a disappointing third, his trainer saying the horse needed the race after recovering from the set-back that had kept him out of the Prix du Moulin.
Connections fired the last shots in their locker in October. Arazi turned in his best effort of the season in the Ciga Prix du Rond-Point, the opening race on the Prix de l'Arc day programme, producing a good turn of foot to win by four lengths from Calling Collect. Victory earned him a place in the field for the Breeders' Cup Mile at Gulfstream Park but he was again disappointing, starting favourite and beating only three home.
Arazi is no oil-painting - he's close-coupled and lightly made - but he's an impressive mover with a powerful, extravagant action. He has a good pedigree too, being by the now-deceased Blushing Groom, an outstanding sire, out of a Northern Dancer mare from a first-rate family. Arazi's dam Danseur Fabuleux never won race but showed useful form at up to a mile and a half. Arazi's grandam Fabuleux Jane was a good middle-distance performer who reached a place in the Prix de Diane and Vermeille; she was a half-sister to champion sprinter Ajdal, as she was to the Middle Park winner Formidable and the American filly Flying Partner who was placed in the CCA Oaks and Kentucky Oaks.
Arazi was bred to stay further than a mile; he won on good to firm going but showed his best form on turf with some give the ground (the Breeders' Cup Juvenile is run on dirt). Sheikh Mohammed purchased Arazi outright after his final start and has retired him to stud. He will stand at Dalham Hall, Newmarket, at a fee of £20,000 (October 1st terms) in 1993.
Arazi's career as three-year-old may have fallen a long way short of fulfilling the expectations held for it, but his outstanding achievements in 1991 ensure that his name will be recalled as long as racing is talked about. He was the best European-trained two-year-old for many a year. F. Boutin, France.
This essay on Arazi was published in 'Racehorses of 1992'.