Moya's Two Sons Hope to Make History in Arc De Triomphe

Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 11 years 3 weeks ago

Moya strutted his powerful stride during the parade of stars close to Paris Race Park where a full field of 14 turf titans would line up for the $5 million Grade I Arc De Triomphe later this week.

The bay stallion now 12, perhaps remembered his own foray into that 1 ½ mile test that attracts some of the top ranked racers in the sport. Eight years ago, he rolled into it off an impressive half length victory over his nemesis Trafalgar in the King George Stakes. But people wondered, had that gut wrenching effort taken its toll on him? Three weeks after that triumph, Moya lined up against four other rivals including the brilliant upstart July and when the gates opened he tried to run away with the race. He bolted to a quarter length lead but Trafalgar clung to his flank even before they hit the first turn in tandem. They opened up swiftly some impressive lengths over the rest of the field in the backstretch as they dueled relentlessly kicking up turf.

Trafalgar led by a mere neck then and it looked like they’d repeat one of the most brutal of all pace battles all the way to the finish line as they did in the King George. But when they hit the far turn, Trafalgar used it to his advantage to start opening up on his rival as if he had just discovered a whole new gear within him. Once he did that, he never looked back as he stormed all the way to the finish line to win by five lengths in world record time. Moya tired in the stretch to be passed by July who kicked it powerfully into gear and passed him relegating him to third place.

That race took something out of both Moya who skipped the Steward’s Cup Turf two weeks later and also Trafalgar who finished fourth in that race clearly bouncing a bit. But the Arc De Triomphe set a fire under July and in a brilliant performance, he won the Turf by 4 /2 lengths over Feat and Jabaar.

Moya retired happily enough with stakes wins in the Desert Turf Classic among others and has so far sired 81 winners including three chasers. In this year’s Arc De Triomphe, he has two promising performers in Temper the Flame and Farscape.

Doug Kidwell picked up Temper the Flame as a two year old in training for $753,000 and so far the bay horse with the huge blaze has rewarded him by winning over $1.273 million in purse money. He’s hit the board in all but one of his 17 starts and he’s won nine of them. He’s been since his arrival at the Paris Race Park walking the shed row, his impressive physique drawing much attention. Sharing some resemblance to Moya, he also appears to have enjoyed his month long recess after his second place finish in the Prince of England Stakes where he finished just behind Sir. John Flagstaff. He’d won other stakes though including the Oceanside and Inglewood Derbies last year and more recently, the Gran Premio Bolero.

Broodmare Escena the Flame (by Loki Flame) never raced but before she died, she produced three other millionaires including Bowman Field and Escena the Voyager. During pre-race week interviews, jockey Michael Hunt made bold statements challenging the other entries to take his horse on and some media outlets questioned his exuberance.

“I’m very confident in the abilities of a horse I’ve ridden since the beginning,” Hunt said, “so much I don’t feel the need to temper my comments.”

His long-time buddy and sometimes intense rival Miguel Byrne admitted that Hunt probably was sitting on a live one. He himself is also very pleased with his horse; Farscape who as already mentioned is by Moya too. Jolene Danner owns the stud and bred this gorgeous and very stylish dark bay horse who wears decorative blinkers that dazzle when he tosses his head defiantly.

He’s out of the North American Champion Older Mare Daybreak who of course is the half sister of some very talented turf performer including European Champion Older Male Sword Bearer and famed broodmare United Souls who herself produced European Champion Three Year Old Male Edward Cullen. Daybreak was nearly perfect herself save for the Steward’s Cup where she finished third twice. In the shed, she’s produced five foals with Farscape being her biggest success so far.

Right now he’s on the right track bringing a three race winning streak into the Arc De Triomphe. Last time out he stepped back up to the 1 ½ mile distance winning the SIMhorseracing Route by a length. With a three week breather save his leisurely walks, he’s looking pretty tough in this race. Although his tendency to duel during the early stages of the race like his sire did, makes him vulnerable in the mad dash of runners that might unfold in the stretch. If he sits just off the pace patiently biding his time, then he could be a force to reckon with all the way to the wire.

It’s a tribute to Moya that he’s got two powerful sons ready to line up with a stacked field of 14 great runners. Though he bristled when he saw his old rival Trafalgar prancing in his paddock, leaving some onlookers to believe that he might be challenging him to a rematch, one where he might emerge the victor this time. But the busiest assistant trainer, Mary Weather just chuckled as she stroked the regal neck of Moya saying that it would be much wiser for both studs to let their offspring take that rivalry back to the racetrack.

She downplayed rumors that she and her best friend, David Hoss who was keeping a sharp eye on weather conditions of course had made wagers on which one would prevail.

Then the news erupted from the paddock that housed Explode that his daughter Portrait in Death had made it back on the entry list for the Arc De Triomphe. Winless in 34 starts, she’s been undergoing final preparations for the biggest race of her career well at least until she runs in the Steward’s Cup Synthetic Classic less than two weeks later.

So the race began to take on a whole another turn. But as for Explode, he just let the frenzy build around him while enjoying his favorite snack of after dinner mints and beer as the buildup for the biggest race in history continued.

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