Rouget’s Last Bow

I didn’t think that a Commercial Court hearing in Pau would ever appear on this blog, but the significance of last week’s decisions from the Tribunal to allow Jean-Claude Rouget to continue until the 6th October feels like the right one. A man who has won countless Group 1 races deserves to bow out at the end of a 48 year career in the right way and the court’s ruling will allow him one last runner on Arc weekend, with Arrow Eagle due to take his place in this year’s Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe on 4th October. Arrow Eagle is a Group 1 winner, having won last year’s Prix Royal Oak at Saint-Cloud under Cristian Demuro. As a half-brother to Rouget’s 2023 Arc winner Ace Impact, it is also a fitting final runner for the great trainer to send out and the romantic in me would love to see him run big race. In reality, this is little more than a romantic entry at this point and an Ante Post price of 66/1 is a fair refection Arrow Eagle’s chance. If he can repeat last year’s effort when he finished a 7-length 6th under Ioritz Mendizabal it will be seen as a good result, but he will allow Jean-Claude Rouget the chance to grace the Paris Longchamp parade ring for one last time before he retires.

A trainer who has won the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe twice (Sottsass 2020, Ace Impact 2023), Rouget also has 6 Prix du Jockey Clubs, 4 Prix de Dianes, 3 Grand Prix de Paris’, 4 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, 2 Champion Stakes and an Eclipse Stakes amongst his many achievements in the sport. Things may not be ending in the manner that he would have wished them to and in truth, the yard has never recovered from a disastrous proposal to join forces with Jerome Reynier in 2024. The loss of the Aga Khan horses was a serious blow and in another world, it is entirely possible that the current Arc favourite and reigning champion Daryz could have been trained by Jean-Claude Rouget. Francis-Henri Graffard is the best trainer in France if not Europe and he has worked miracles for those famous silks, especially since the retirement of Alain de Royer Dupre in 2021, so this shift may have happened anyway, but there is a slight sense that there will be another changing of the guard next Sunday afternoon in Paris.

Jean-Claude Rouget is one of my heroes. A man who has transcended French Racing to make his mark on the global stage and I am delighted to see that he will get one last crack at the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. Health issues in recent year’s haven’t helped and the yard has had some well documented issues in that time too, but there was some obvious joy with a couple of recent winners at Toulouse under the ever loyal Jean-Bernard Eyquem. With a dry forecast ahead, I fully expect Arrow Eagle to find things happening too fast for him in Paris next weekend and even a career best may not be enough to trouble the likes of Daryz, who seems to be a far more likely winner. However, there will be a part of me that hopes he runs well. Jean-Claude Rouget is one of the greatest trainers that France has produced and he deserves the chance to bow out on the big stages, an opportunity that Arc weekend in Paris should provide.