Jean-Claude Rouget is in confident mood ahead of Ace Impact's bid for glory in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday.
It has been quite the rise through the ranks for the son of Cracksman, who did not see the racecourse as a two-year-old and made his debut in the low-key surroundings of Cagnes-Sur-Mer in late January.
Another understated success at Bordeaux followed and he has since proved his class by landing a Listed race and the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly, before adding the Group Two Prix Guillaume d’Ornano to his tally at Deauville in August.
Ace Impact is the clear favourite to provide his trainer with a second Arc win following the success of Sottsass three years ago and while taking nothing for granted, Rouget feels there are no negatives.
"Why shouldn’t I be optimistic? I’m coming in with a horse that’s unbeaten," he said on Tuesday.
"We know in any race anything can happen and we’re coming to the end of the season, but he gets three kilos from the older horses, which is important.
"I’m optimistic in the sense that he goes into the race unbeaten and has done everything we have asked him to so far."
Following his victory at Deauville, Rouget considered running his star colt in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown the following month, while he also had the option of getting a first taste of Longchamp in the Prix Niel.
However, mindful of the fact Ace Impact had been on the go since the beginning of the year, he elected to keep his powder dry for the day that matters most.
Rouget added: "It’s very important that he stays a fresh horse because he started his season very early, which is not the usual start for a Classic horse.
"I didn’t want to run him last year in November, I wanted to wait and he then ran in January, so after he ran in Deauville I preferred to not run him again so that he has some freshness going into the Arc.
"It’s been six weeks and the six weeks have passed very quickly."
Ace Impact will be racing over a mile and a half for the first time this weekend, but Rouget does not expect him to be beaten for a lack of stamina, while the fact he has never run on the track is also not a concern for the trainer.
"Obviously we can’t be certain, but with the way he finishes his races and also the fact his sire was a winner over the distance gives us hope that he can stay," he continued.
"If the Prix du Jockey Club had been over a mile and a half, as it was in the past, he would have won that.
"Last year Vadeni was in the same place for us and he ran really well (finished second to Alpinista).
"It is very rare I run a horse in the Grand Prix de Paris and after that there was just the Prix Niel, which didn’t hold any interest for me.
"I’m not worried about the course, he’s an easy horse once he’s settled in his race and there are plenty of horses that have won the Arc that also hadn’t run at Longchamp before.
"There was just no opportunity to do so, but it’s not something that bothers me."
With the weather set fair in Paris for the rest of the week, underfoot conditions for the race look likely to be quicker than in recent editions.
Rouget is therefore expecting there to be no excuses on the ground front, adding: "I think it is going to be good for everyone, which is an interesting point about this year’s race.
"In the past the race was often criticised for its heavy ground and the fact horses are tired, but this year I think the ground is going to suit everyone."
Feed The Flame will bid to give veteran trainer Pascal Bary a long-awaited first victory in the race.
Bary has handled a host of top-class runners during his lengthy career, sending out Classic winners in France, Britain and Ireland as well as saddling three Breeders’ Cup winners.
However, he has yet to taste success in the crown jewel of French racing, with Sulamani coming closest when finishing a three-quarter-length second to Marienbard in 2002 after Croco Rouge finished third behind Montjeu in 1999.
The Chantilly-based handler has plenty of faith in his challenger this year though, with Feed The Flame having made huge strides since his racecourse bow in April, finishing fourth to Ace Impact in the Prix du Jockey Club before going on to land the Grand Prix de Paris over the Arc course and distance in July.
While he had to settle for second place behind Fantastic Moon in his Prix Niel trial earlier this month, Bary believes the Kingman colt might find conditions more to his liking on Sunday.
He said: "He’s a very good horse, he has a very good temperament and he gets the mile and a half really, really well. I think on the day of the Arc, the ground will be slightly different and he will be more comfortable on that ground.
"Anything a bit softer than the ground he encountered in the Jockey Club, Grand Prix de Paris and Prix Niel would be appreciated."
Feed The Flame was beaten two and a half lengths by Fantastic Moon – who could well be supplemented for Sunday’s race – and Bary felt the decision to field King Of Records as a pacemaker perhaps played into the winner’s hands.
He explained: "I think I made a mistake by running a pacemaker because he worked much more for the German horse than he did for us. It’s not an easy race to run in because to bring a horse on from 14 July to the beginning of September, there’s not a lot of time.
"Christophe (Soumillon) sort of asked him when he came down into the false straight but at that point on that good ground, the German horse had taken off and Christophe was intelligent enough to just let the horse finish his race because he actually was probably missing a bit of work before he went into the race.
"The aim was not to have a race that was going to be too hard, but at the moment he was so far behind in the final straight, Christophe actually judged it was too late to ask him for a massive effort to bring him closer to the leader."
"He’s a horse that knows how to accelerate and you have to ride him to his strengths. We have to adapt to the horse, he’s not going to adapt to us. In a race with a lot of pace and runners, this should not be an issue.
"If he is to the back of the field, there’s enough time to come forward. When he ran in the Jockey Club, Ace Impact was behind him and came through so he’s obviously the horse to beat. I don’t know much about the opposition but if Ace Impact can come forward, Feed The Flame is capable of accelerating."
Owen Burrows considers Hukum's light campaign to be a help and not a hindrance ahead of the race.
The Shadwell-owned colt has been seen just twice this year, winning the Brigadier Gerard Stakes after almost a year off the track when making his seasonal debut in May.
He defeated Derby hero Desert Crown on that occasion and subsequently side-stepped Royal Ascot as the ground was unsuitably quick.
That left the horse off the track for 65 days when he lined up for a hugely-competitive renewal of the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, but the absence did nothing to stop him edging out Ralph Beckett’s Westover by a head in thrilling finish.
There will be gap of a similar length between that performance and Sunday’s race and with the bay proven to go well fresh, Burrows has few concerns about his sparse season.
A RACE FOR THE AGES! Two pull clear, and HUKUM outbattles WESTOVER to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes! Huge congratulations to @JimCrowley1978, Owen Burrows and @ShadwellStud 🏆 pic.twitter.com/ATv2x8ulRz
— Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) July 29, 2023
He said: "I’m more than happy to bring him in off the back of his King George win, he’s proven as he won first time in Dubai last year on Super Saturday.
"He won the Brigadier Gerard and then we weren’t able to run at Royal Ascot as the ground was a bit quick, so he went to the King George after a bit of a break.
"He’s obviously a horse who runs well fresh and we’re confident we can get him there in a good spot."
Burrows has been satisfied with Hukum’s work since he was last seen on track, and is especially pleased with how he seems to be thriving at six after a serious injury robbed him of a year of racing following his 2022 Coronation Cup victory.
"We’ve been very pleased with him, obviously that (the King George) was at the end of July so he’s had a nice easy couple of weeks after that," the trainer said.
"We’ve had a nice amount of time to slowly bring him up for this very important race now.
"I think it’s pretty obvious to see with his form this year that he is better than ever, it looked last season like he was on the up when he won the Coronation Cup at Epsom.
"Unfortunately he picked up his injury there, which stopped his season, but from an early stage this year when we started working him again, he showed all his old enthusiasm and his work was better than ever.
"For whatever reason he looks as though he’s found a bit from somewhere this year, he was able to win the Brigadier Gerard over a mile and a quarter. He certainly is as as good as ever."
