Daryz Beats Bay City Roller To Boost His Arc Claims
Daryz Beats Bay City Roller Easily
Daryz put himself firmly in the picture for the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on 4 October with a straightforward defeat of Bay City Roller in the Gr.2 Prix Foy at Longchamp. Trainer Francis Graffard reported the run left his stable in exactly the shape he had hoped for four weeks out from Longchamp.
The Gr.2 Prix Foy was run over 1m4f at Longchamp, where Daryz, ridden by Mickael Barzalona, beat Bay City Roller by a length and three-quarters, with Uthred third of four runners. The result matched pre-race expectations: Bay City Roller’s trainer, George Scott, had rated Daryz the form horse in the field beforehand.
The result arrived four weeks after Daryz had finished third behind Ombudsman and Minnie Hauk in the Gr.1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on 17 June 2026, a run Graffard attributed at the time to the horse being unwell. Saturday’s win over 1m4f at Longchamp therefore carried added significance, arriving as it did with the Arc itself now just four weeks away and Daryz’s participation in that race no longer in any real doubt.
“It went exactly as I’d hoped and we were lucky in that we had a leader who injected some pace into the race coming down the hill, so as a trainer I couldn’t have hoped for a better prep run,” Graffard said. “It was a perfect prep, he’ll come on plenty for that and everything was a positive.”
Asked how the 2026 version of Daryz compared with the horse that beat Minnie Hauk in the 2025 Arc, Graffard described the differences he had noticed between the two. “He’s a lot stronger and you can see he was mentally in a much better place today,” Graffard said. “He wasn’t the same horse I saw at Ascot. He was sick that day and this was the best possible preparation for him.”
Graffard Fields Three Possible Runners
Graffard could field three runners in the Arc after also winning the Gr.2 Prix Niel with Varandir, who sprinted clear under Barzalona from Alam and Pearled Majesty in race-record time. Fifth-placed Benvenuto Cellini, winner of the Irish Derby earlier in the season, finished well below the level he showed when chasing home Kalpana and Calandagan in the King George.
Graffard also chose to take encouragement from Sunly’s third place behind Friendly Soul in the Gr.1 Prix Vermeille. “Sunly showed she’s a filly with great class too,” Graffard said. “I’ll have to discuss it with her entourage, but she could go as well. She might easily have won the Vermeille today but was very unlucky, and one day she’ll win a big race.”
Graffard was clear that Daryz remains the stable’s leading hope regardless of how many runners it sends. “All three ran very well, but Daryz had a morning gallop, it was the ideal race, and he looks like my best horse,” Graffard said. “But you need luck in an Arc when there are a lot of runners and it’s no bad thing to have a few chances.”
Daryz Chases Rare Back-To-Back Arc
Daryz is attempting to become the first colt to win back-to-back runnings of the Arc since Alleged, who completed the feat under Lester Piggott in 1977 and 1978. Among the small number of horses to have won the race twice are Ksar, Motrico, Corrida, Tantieme and Alleged himself, a list that underlines how rare Daryz’s attempt to join them would be.
Bay City Roller’s trainer George Scott said his colt had run to the level expected on quicker ground than he prefers, with conditions likely to suit him better in four weeks’ time. “We ran a fair race and got beaten by a better horse on the day under these conditions,” Scott said. “Our horse is a hell of a lot better with cut in the ground and it’s a nice, slick surface today.”
Daryz’s Prix Foy victory followed wins earlier in the 2026 season in the Prix Ganay and the Prix Aga Khan IV, both at Longchamp, either side of the Royal Ascot defeat that Graffard has now put down to illness. With Scott already anticipating softer ground working in Bay City Roller’s favour next time, and Graffard weighing up whether Sunly joins her stablemates in the field, the shape of the Arc line-up looks likely to keep shifting over the coming weeks, even as Daryz’s position at the head of it remains unchanged for now.