NEWS
Classic winner Arcangues dead
Posted: Thursday, March 19, 2009 10:15 AM
by Jeff Lowe and Ed DeRosa
The Japan Racing Association has revealed that Arcangues, who sprung the biggest upset in Breeders’ Cup history, was euthanized in October 2006 at a Japanese farm.
The Sagace (Fr) horse out of Albertine (Fr), by Irish River (Fr), was pensioned from stud duty that spring after foundering. He was 18 when he died.
Dismissed at 133.60-to-1 odds in the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita Park, Arcangues rumbled past champion Bertrando in the stretch and paid $269.20 for the win, which remains a Breeders’ Cup record by a wide margin. The second longest-priced winner in Breeders’ Cup history was Spain at 55.90-to-1 in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).
Guided by Racing Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey for French trainer Andre Fabre, Arcangues also was the only foreign-based winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic until Raven’s Pass prevailed in the 2008 edition.
“I had never seen him before I stepped into the paddock,” Bailey said after the race, the point when he learned how to pronounce the horse’s name. “Ar-KONG? Well, it was a pleasant surprise. He ran like King Kong today.”
Bred and raced by Daniel Wildenstein, Arcangues stayed in the United States for a six-year-old campaign in 1994 and won the John Henry Handicap (G2) at Hollywood Park before beginning his stud career in ‘95 at Stallion Nakamura Chikusan on Japan’s island of Hokkaido.
Arcangues notched three group stakes wins in France, including the 1993 Prix d’Ispahan (Fr-G1). Data from The Jockey Club indicates that he has sired 23 winners, including one stakes winner, from ten crops that consist of 264 foals.
“It is with deep regret that we lost such a great horse who won the Breeders' Cup,” said Yutaka Yokoyama, senior manager of the Japan Racing Association’s New York office.
Arcangues was a half brother to French Group 3 winner Agathe, a Manila mare who produced French classic winner Aquarelliste and multiple Grade 1 winner Artiste Royal (Ire).
Jeff Lowe is a THOROUGHBRED TIMES staff writer; Ed DeRosa is news editor
