Arc 2022: Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant is left out

Even though she has won nine Group 1 races, including the 2021 Melbourne Cup, and earned more than $8.7 million, 7-year-old Southern Hemisphere mare Verry Elleegant has been ruled out of Sunday’s $4.8 million Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe under circumstances that her trainer called “upsetting.”

Francis-Henri Graffard told the “Nick Luck Daily Podcast” that Verry Elleegant was underrated by a handicapping system that left her below the cut line for the maximum 20-horse field.

“It’s a very tricky situation,” Graffard told Luck. “I have to make a decision between supplementing in the Arc or declaring for the Prix de Royallieu (G1) on Saturday, because in France you cannot declare in two races at the same time, so I have to make the decision. I could end up being nowhere.”

Verry Elleegant was given an inferior rating by France Galop, the racing authority that runs the Arc, because of her last-place finish in the Prix Jean Romanet (G1) in August. Had she been ranked only on the basis of her most recent start, a third-place result last month in the Prix Foy (G2), she would have made the field. Unlike other racing jurisdictions in Europe, a horse racing more than once in a given year may be penalized in France for a disappointing result. Under these circumstances, Graffard said, Verry Elleegant would have been eligible to run in any other Group 1 race in Europe.

Graffard, a native of France, took over training Verry Elleegant from Chris Waller when her owners from Australia and New Zealand decided to target the Arc. The New Zealand-bred mare by Zed made the move from Australia, where she won the Chipping Norton (G1) early this year.

“I’m very, very upset about the French authority and the French handicapper and my racing country in general,” Graffard said. “We play the game with France Galop, and they try to make it difficult at every single stage. This filly is a very good example of how unopen the French are. Everything at every step of the way has been difficult for her, for the owners, and they make our life very difficult right up to the end.”

Rather than pay the $115,457 to supplement into the Arc and risk being left out, Graffard said Verry Elleegant would be entered for the $288,631 Prix de Royallieu (G1), a 1 3/4-mile race for fillies and mares who will run on the turf at ParisLongchamp the day before the 1 1/2-mile Arc. Verry Elleegant has won at distances between seven furlongs and the two miles of the Melbourne Cup.

“I think for international racing it would have been fantastic and logical, because I’m not the only one,” said Graffard, who pointed out that Verry Elleegant was 12-1 in futures betting for the Arc. “Talking about the French handicapper, it's absolutely ridiculous. … They’re always right. They always have a good reason. They always think they’re right.”

Final declarations for the Arc are due Thursday at 4:30 a.m. EDT. Irish Champion (G1) winner Luxembourg, a 3-year-old Camelot colt who is campaigned by Coolmore trainer Aidan O’Brien, was the best-priced 4-1 favorite Wednesday, according to Racing Post.

For the Royallieu, Verry Elleegant was the joint 3-1 favorite with two-time Group 2 winner Sea La Rosa.

Graffard is not without a likely starter in the Arc. Sealiway, who finished fifth in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland and fifth in last year’s Arc, was a 50-1 long shot in early betting for Sunday’s feature.

The Arc is scheduled to be run Sunday at 10:05 a.m. EDT. The Royallieu is carded for Saturday at 8:33 a.m. EDT. Both races will be drawn Thursday. The Météo-Paris forecast was for a 30 percent chance of showers Wednesday and Thursday, a sunny day Friday, a 70 percent chance of rain on a windy Saturday and a partly cloudy, breezy day Sunday.