Mick Channon has no ground for concern with Youmzain
The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe has never been regarded as the soft option but this year’s race threatens to be heavy going for what could be a maximum field of 20 at Longchamp on Sunday.
The ground has already taken a pounding from rain, a full card the previous day may well cut up the track and the weather is unlikely to help according to clerk of the course Christian Delporte. There is more rain forecast for the Paris area over the weekend and Delporte said: “It’s soft and, with the rain on Saturday, probably very soft. The condition of the track is soft but it will be OK.”
Aidan O’Brien, who still has seven potential runners left in the race, has already expressed fears about the deteriorating ground in terms of his two principal hopes, Cape Blanco and Fame And Glory but Mick Channon is not overly worried for his runner, Youmzain. “I don’t think we’ve ever run on it but we go all right on soft ground,” Channon said, adding with typical candour “We certainly won't use that as an excuse.”
Three times in as many years Youmzain has got close to taking both the fame and the glory on Arc day, having finished second to Dylan Thomas (pictured, right), Zarkava and Sea The Stars by an aggregate distance of four-and-a-quarter lengths. The Arc will be Youmzain’s 23rd consecutive run in a Group One race and there are those who might point out that the horse should have won more of them – he has won two in that time – and Channon might agree.
But he would also point out that a horse who cost 30,000gns and has won £3,394,269 in prize money is the sort of disappointment he - and the horse’s owner, Jaber Abdullah - can live with. “However you look at it you’d say if he had got the race that he should have got, in his first year in the Arc, he’d have probably been retired to stud – so we wouldn’t have had him. So we’ve got Jabber to thank for insisting that he stays at a mile-and-a-half.
“He’s been a great ambassador for the yard. We’re mainly a yard that has two-year-olds and sprinter-miler type horses and it’s nice when you get a chance to train a distance horse. We’ve had great fun with a few stayers in our time but obviously he’s got a touch of class. He’s done everything right, had a great preparation – just want Sunday to come now.”
An Arc victory would be the most fitting finale for Youmzain – he would become only the second seven-year-old to win the race after Motrico in 1932 - who will take up stud duties in France next year. “He goes to Alec and Criquette Head's stud in Normandy which I think right place for him to stand,” Channon explained. “I think he’ll get a lot more opportunities than he will here. Jabber will certainly support him and they appreciate those type of middle-distance horses [in France] more than we do here. We tend to be more sprinter-miler type horses." Channon added.
The other star of Channon’s yard at present is miler Music Show, who runs in the Group One Kindgdom Of Bahrain Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday. The filly has run in six consecutive Group Ones herself this season, with varying degrees of success and was third in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown last month. But Channon has never wavered in his belief and her victory in the Falmouth Stakes, at Newmarket in July, is the tangible proof that she can perform at this level.
"She's been very consistent,” he said. “She breezed yesterday and we were very happy with her. She seems to be in great heart and she’s done nothing wrong. It was a bit of a mess of a race at Leopardstown last time but it can happen be and I couldn't be happier with her. She’s in great form and I think we've two big chances in Group One races.
“Our horses are in good form. We’ve seemed to be loaded up with seconds, but that’s the way it’s going at the moment. But you have runs like that and we’ve just got to get on with the way that the cards have been dealt.”
If Youmzain can break his run of seconds, Channon will settle for that.
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