Torquator Tasso in Paris: "We made history"

Finally, there was the Frankie Dettori show: the 51-year-old Italian jumped out of the saddle of five-year-old Kinross with his arms spread wide – it is the trademark of the world-famous jockey after Group I victories, the races of the highest international level Category.

But it was "only" the 350,000 euro Prix de la Forêt at the Longchamp in the Bois de Boulogne, one of six top races that afternoon, and unfortunately not the 5 million euro Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Incidentally, both races were sponsored by Qatar, which discovered galloping before football to improve its image.

In the Arc, the most important horse race in Europe, Dettori rode the defending champion from Germany, Torquator Tasso.

"He ran great," said Dettori after a strong third place.

"After the starting box was drawn, I knew it was going to be difficult."

"Everything done right"

Torquator Tasso started the 2400 meter long race from box 18 of the 20 starters.

A place in the front field at the beginning of the long home straight would have been better with the course becoming more and more soaked due to heavy rain.

"But Frankie couldn't go forward too quickly, otherwise Tasso would have had no strength left at the end.

He rode exactly according to our ideas and did everything right,” said trainer Marcel Weis.

Dettori, who has won more than 500 group races in his illustrious career, more than half of them at the highest level, came to Mülheim an der Ruhr from England for training last week to get to know Torquator Tasso again close.

In the exhausting finish, the five-year-old stallion fought his way forward, but in the end he just couldn't get past the French derby winner Vadeni.

Half a length ahead of them, 33-year-old Luke Morris celebrated the biggest win of his career on an Alpinista.

But the lead doesn't really express the superiority of the five-year-old mare owned by Tetra Pak heiress Kirsten Rausing.

"Today nobody had a chance against the winner", Weis and Dettori agreed.

There was 571,000 euros for third place, and with around 4.22 million prize money, Torquator Tasso is now the most profitable horse in Germany's history.

"We made history," said Weis, who was very satisfied with the result.

In 100 years, three horses trained in Germany have won the Arc.

The much larger and richer thoroughbred breeding in Japan, on the other hand, has been trying in vain for decades to bring the Arc into the country.

The long-leading titleholder ended up eleventh, with three other horses trained in Japan finishing even lower.

Japan could still be a target for Torquator Tasso.

Whether the stallion, which cost 24,000 euros as a yearling, will compete again in the multi-million dollar Japan Cup, "he will decide for himself in the next few weeks," says the trainer.

"He proved once again that last year's victory was not a flash in the pan."

The second German participant in the Arc, Mendocino, never really had a chance as tenth.

"He gave everything, but the ground was too deep for him," said Rene Piechulek.

Successful with Tasso last year, he had to ride the protégé of his main employer and partner Sarah Steinberg again in Paris after winning the Baden Grand Prix with his “heart horse”.

The Japan Cup and the prospect of a $3 million bonus could also lure the winner, Alpinista.

It is being prepared in Newmarket, England, by Sir Mark Prescott, who inherited his peerage.

"I've worked for Kirsten Rausing for 36 years, training Alpinista's grandmother and mother," said Prescott.

"I've been breeding thoroughbreds for six generations," said Rausing, who definitely has a soft spot for German thoroughbreds.

The derby winner Sea The Moon, bred by the Görlsdorf stud, is at her stud in Newmarket as a stallion - and with great success.

However, Alpinista descends from Frankel, who is said to have been the best racehorse since the end of the Second World War.

Last year the gray mare won three Group I races in Germany, including one in Berlin ahead of Torquator Tasso.

In Paris she won for the eighth time in a row.

"She got better with every run," Prescott said.

"She has been faultless for two years and Luke, who has worked for me for eleven years, has ridden her for two years without a fault."

Prescott, 74, who has been training Thoroughbreds for more than half a century, presented himself humble and humorous to the world's press.

“I used to think that when I won my first ride when I was 15 or 16, it was the best ten minutes of my life.

Today is the same.

It's hard to imagine a better day.”