The mud and the drugs and the tears – and Sotsass – make it an Arc to remember

You wouldn’t want to be in the corridors of Gain Equine Nutrition this week.

The horse-feed company’s officials will be dreading a lawyer’s letter that’s about to ping into the inbox from Ballydoyle, the world’s biggest and most successful racehorse training operation.

The damages claim could be quite high following dramatic events leading up to the Prix de la Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Sunday.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien was forced to withdraw all four of his runners from Europe’s richest race after discovering the banned substance zilpaterol in their blood. The drug – usually used to fatten up cows and pigs – was traced to a batch of feed supplied to Ballydoyle by Gain Equine Nutrition.

Several other trainers, including O’Brien’s sons Joseph and Donnacha and England’s Roger Varian, also withdrew runners from race meetings around Europe.

“I don’t know where it will all go,” said O’Brien. “The ramifications are massive. I don’t know where it will start or stop.”

Apart from multi-layered costs of taking the O’Brien quartet from Ireland to Longchamp, there will be a long list of other wasted expenses, such as Epsom Derby winner Serpentine being supplemented into the Arc field for a late-entry fee of €72 000 (about R1.4 million).

French racing operator France Galop might also be in a suing mood, seeing as their flagship event was reduced from 15 runners to just 11.

Marcus Armytage, writing in The Telegraph of London, pointed out that the contamination saga could affect Europe’s top yearling sale in Newmarket next week. A buyer can return a yearling to a vendor of it testing positive for a banned drug – and Ballydoyle’s closely associated Irish stud Coolmore has dozens of lots on the catalogue.

The legal ramifications of feed contaminations tend to roll on for years. In South Africa, trainers whose reputations are otherwise impeccable, have been hit with big fines for not taking enough care to ensure the commercial feed they buy does not harbour hidden dope.

In this latest case, the prime suspect is soya, which Gain imports from the Americas, where zilpaterol is licensed for most animal consumption.

The company will be insured against such a calamity but, in such a big-money environment, trust and reputation is paramount and Gain will soon be feeling loss.

The other dampener at Longchamp was the failure of super mare Enable to register a record third victory in the Arc. The six-year-old hot favourite and her adoring jockey Frankie Dettori finished sixth, with stablemate Stradivarius seventh – both well adrift of 7-1 winner Sottsass.

Who’s ass? Uncouth southerners might well snigger at such a name, but sophisticated Europeans will be aware that the horse is named after celebrated 20th century Italian designer Ettore Sottsass. (This gent designed the portable Olivetti typewriter upon which yours truly penned his earliest news articles.)

Sottsass, trainer Jean-Claude Rouget and jockey Cristian Demuro finished third in 2019, but got their preparation just right this time around.

“We’ve worked all year for this,” said Rouget. “Our entire aim for 2020 was this and it’s not been easy with the changes to the calendar. We’ve never been able to do quite what we wanted with the horse. But these last few days I’ve really felt he was in top form.”

Soft ground and a lack of race pace – thanks to O’Brien’s speedsters being withdrawn – were identified as reasons for Enable’s disappointing performance. But trainer John Gosden was philosophical about the outcome and suggested Enable might tackle another race before being retired to stud. Stradivarius will definitely keep racing, with another round of British gold trophies seemingly at his mercy.

However, Sottsass’s racing days are over. On Tuesday, owner White Birch Farm announced he’d retired to stallion duties – at none other than Coolmore.

White Birch Farm’s Peter Brant said: “I am a big believer that a horse should go to stud when they are ready, when they look fine like a shiny penny, and not beat up.

“The horse has done everything in the world I could have asked him for. He’s won the Jockey Club, the Ganay and the Arc de Triomphe. It’s just an amazing feat.”

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