Yasutoshi Ikee has vowed to return and win Europe’s most prestigious race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, after suffering a heartbreaking defeat in this year’s renewal at Longchamp on Sunday.
The 37-year-old Japanese trainer, whose trainer father Yasuo was also left disappointed in the 2006 Arc when Deep Impact was third, had just seen his 2011 Japanese Horse of the Year Orfevre denied by a neck by 40/1 outsider Solemia.
“It is not good enough. Second place is not sufficient, we came here to win, it is a trainer’s duty to win,” was Ikee’s immediate reaction.
However, half an hour later the softly spoken trainer was more sanguine about the defeat and about a return to Longchamp to finally win a race that has become to the Japanese like their quest for the mythical Holy Grail.
“I don’t know whether Orfevre will be back as he could well go to stud,” he told AFP.
“However, I am keen to return and to win the Arc as it is a magical race and it is hard to come so far and leave with victory having been so close to hand.”
What made it more upsetting for Ikee and the thousands of Japanese, including his father, who boosted the attendance to over 60,000 was that Orfevre had cruised into the lead around 400 metres from the line having passed Solemia with ease.
All of a sudden, though, his momentum came to an abrupt halt and Solemia rallied.
Ikee told AFP he wasn’t sure whether it was his quirky character or exhaustion having had to come from the worst draw of 18 of the 18 runners in testing ground.
“It was at around the 50 metres mark that I realised that Solemia would win,” said Ikee, who first dreamed of winning the Arc when he worked for English trainer Sir Michael Stoute in the late 1990s.
“Orfevre looked inside and not on the outside and didn’t see Solemia and it was too late for him to regain his momentum.
“For sure there is disappointment because we didn’t win but there is pride too that he came here and behind him were the winner of the French Derby Saonois (15th) and of the Epsom and Irish Derbys Camelot (7th).”
Soumillon, who to the surprise of many given he had ridden the legendary filly Zarkava to success in the 2008 Arc nominated Orfevre as the best horse he had ridden, was distraught afterwards.
“It is heartbreaking, we did everything right from a dreadful draw and I really thought history beckoned as we eased into the lead,” Soumillon saixd.
“It looked like it was a dream unfolding but in the end it was a catastrophe, a nightmare.”
