‘Unfair advantage to the geldings’ – O’Brien’s say on Arc change

Champion Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien has questioned France Galop’s decision to allow geldings to contest the Prix de I’Arc de Triomphe from 2027, believing their introduction will change the identity of the race.

Responding to the passing of the motion earlier this week by French racing authorities, which still needs sign off from the European Pattern Committee, O’Brien says geldings will have a distinct advantage of the colts who run in the Arc.

“I’m not sure whether I should be commenting on it or not, and it’s only my own opinion and I’m not saying whether it’s right or wrong, but the one thing I would say is that training a gelding is completely different to training a colt. You’ve no idea how different it is.” O’Brien told the Racing Post.

“It’s so much easier to train a gelding in every way so, unfortunately, the reality of it is that there will be an unfair advantage to the geldings in the race now.”

“The Arc was always the ultimate championship race, you could judge a pedigree on the Arc, but everything changes now.

“When a horse is gelded you’ve got to understand that everything changes, and I mean absolutely everything. They become so much easier to manage and train so, look, it’s going to be a different race from next year onwards.”