Aidan O’Brien’s star Australian import So You Think is the new favourite for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe after Epsom Derby winner Pour Moi was forced into premature retirement.
Trained in Chantilly north of Paris by Andre Fabre Pour Moi leapt to the top of the Arc betting when clinching an impressive victory in June’s Epsom Derby.
But he suffered a career-ending injury on Friday morning.
Official news of his fate was slow to filter out, with the first signs that all was not as it should be coming from the betting exchanges in Britain with his price drifting alarmingly from 3-1 favourite as bookmakers reported a suspicious amount of interest in his market rivals.
Pour Moi was available at double those odds by lunchtime on Friday, and by the end of the day could be backed at 100-1 on the betting exchanges, still with no official comment from either Fabre or his owners, Coolmore.
Twenty-four hours after the injury Coolmore released their first public statement through the social networking site Twitter on Saturday.
That post reported that Pour Moi had suffered “a severe over-reach” and would now be prepared for a career at their stud in Ireland.
Fabre later told Britain’s Press Association that the injury had “happened two days ago”.
“When it was scanned, you could see what the damage was,” he added.
“It was deeper than we thought.”
Pour Moi, who took the Derby by a head under his young French rider Mikael Barzalona, was due to have his Arc warm-up in the Prix Niel at Longchamp in a fortnight’s time.
Fabre, reflecting on his three-year-old’s performance at Epsom, said: “What he did at Epsom was amazing, to go from last to first.
“For a horse to get there so easily, the turn of foot he showed was a sign of great ability. I have never trained a middle-distance horse that had such acceleration.”
Pour Moi becomes the first Derby winner not to race again since Secreto in 1984.
In his enforced absence So You Think, also owned by Coolmore, now heads the betting for the Arc on October 2 at 5-1, with Sarafina – third in 2010 – and last year’s winner Workforce next best at 11-2.
AFP gjw
AAP TURF
