Monday, October 4th, 2021
Torquator Tasso’s triumph
The greatest outsider in history
Torquator Tasso caused a big sensation with his victory in the Prix de l’Arc. The owners are also happy about an enormous increase in value. They can hardly believe their luck. Coach Marcel Weiß, who dealt against the bookmakers before the race, is already planning the next coup.
Helga Endres had the right feeling. At the autumn auction three years ago in Iffezheim, she noticed a yearling named Tijuan Hilleshage. Her husband Peter Michael Endres put 24,000 euros on the table for Gestüt Auenquelle – an extremely worthwhile investment. On Sunday the stallion, renamed Torquator Tasso after the purchase, wrote gallop history and won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe as the third German horse after Star Appeal (1975) and Danedream (2011).
“I’ve been a breeder for 40 years, but that is the absolute highlight. We did everything right,” said Endres of the specialist newspaper “Sport Welt”. Together with his wife, the proud owner followed the brilliant ride of jockey Rene Piechulek on the luxury Paris-Longchamp racetrack. “I keep pinching myself,” Endres said afterwards, overwhelmed.
Torquator Tasso earned 2.857 million euros, who, as a 725:10 outsider, duped the best racehorses in the world over the 2400 m distance. In addition, the four-year-old increased his breeding value enormously. The fact that the owners had previously turned down very lucrative offers for the Adlerflug son was the right decision. “You don’t train a horse like that very often in life. He’s a star,” said Mülheim / Ruhr-based trainer Marcel Weiß.
Continuous rain makes it possible
“Words fail me. I can’t believe that we won. I thought about the Arc in the winter, because at the age of three it already proved that it was in a class of its own,” said Weiss and thanked him for the confidence of the owners who have turned down some “big offers” on Torquator Tasso in the past.
The heavy ground caused by the continuous rain in Paris was very helpful to Torquator Tasso. Even his father Adlerflug was a specialist in softened tracks. The winner returned to his stable on Monday. But white has already set his sights on the next travel destination for the German gallop of the year. “We’ll be discussing his other program in the coming weeks. Maybe he’ll go to Japan,” said the coach. It is unclear whether Torquator Tasso will stay in training next year.
His jockey would be happy. “It was my first time in the Arc. I will probably understand later that I won here,” said Piechulek after the success in one of the most prestigious races in the world.
“The winner is not bad”
The French audience extensively celebrated the winning team of the 100th Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. “I’m really impressed by the ambience and the crowd. Probably hardly anyone here knew me, but I was practically adopted,” said Piechulek Gave a chance. ” The gratitude is mutual.
The competition was also impressed. “The winner is not bad,” said jockey Ryan Moore, who finished sixth with the poorly formed Snowfall. “He was okay in Germany and was probably seriously underestimated. He’s not that bad.”
Coach Marcel Weiß had already pointed out the outsider chances in the run-up to the race and, like Moore, pointed out the lack of recognition of previous achievements. “German horses won the Arc and did well there,” he said. “The bookies don’t have a lot of respect for them – but I hope we can prove them wrong.”