It’s hard to believe that it is almost ten years since Makybe Diva won her third and final Melbourne Cup. It’s also five years since Goldikova won her third Breeders Cup Mile.
More recently, and worthy of a mention with the Cheltenham Festival just around the corner, Irish-trained jumps racer Quevega landed four consecutive running’s of the Mare’s Hurdle between 2009 and 2014.
The point is not how quickly time flies but how racehorses can and do return to the scene of their greatest victories to repeat the feat again and again. The history books are littered with these types of champions and yet the public rarely head the most pertinent form guide of them all.
There are countless more examples in the modern era: Yeats won four consecutive Ascot Gold Cups (2006-09). Big Bucks four consecutive World Hurdles (2009-12) again at Cheltenham. American super filly Zenyatta won the Vanity Handicap, Clement Hirsch Handicap and Lady Secret Stakes three times apiece between 2008 and 2010.
Invariably all of these great horses have had one thing in common, the public’s overwhelming perception that “they cannot possibly do it again”. Breaking news: They can and they do, regularly.
Now, at the end of 2014 Treve defended her Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe title which she gained in 2013 as part of a four-race unbeaten season. Last year the odds were stacked against her, in fact she started the race as an 11/1 shot following three uninspiring runs during the season. Yet, ultimately, she ran out a convincing winner of the €5million race.
Those mid-season disappointments did not concern me as I am a firm believer mares have a defined window, a period when they are at their finest and for Treve it’s the first weekend in October.
Seriously, is it a coincidence that brilliant repeat champions like Makybe Diva, Goldikova and Quevega are all mares? I think not.
I also think the 6/1 about Treve landing her third consecutive Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in 2015 is outstanding value; that’s safe in the knowledge that the modern-day history books are in full support of that claim.
