General / Graham Cunningham / 09 October 2009 / Leave a comment

As the dust finally settles on an electric weekend in Paris, Graham Cunningham brings a quartet of his top moments from the Arc meeting

"Nominating long range horses to follow isn't normally my thing, but Wedding March constantly took the eye in the paddock prior to her fine fourth in Sunday's Prix Marcel Boussac and she has the makings of a cracking prospect for Godolphin once she steps up to middle distances in 2010."

1: Bumping into an ebullient Stan Moore outside the Meridien Hotel about twelve hours after Total Gallery had given him his biggest training success in the Prix de l'Abbaye. Moore has had a rough year health wise but thoroughly deserved his day in the sun.

2: Backing Total Gallery at [13.0] on Betfair with the aim of laying him at [3.0] in-running only to realise that I had mistakenly backed Tax Free instead after the race. I managed to retrieve things later on but the embarrassment scars caused by backing a big priced winner then gazing down at my laptop to see a minus £488 result on the first big race of the day will take far longer to heal.

3: Having the opportunity to examine some of Europe's best horses up close from the centre of the paddock. Nominating long range horses to follow isn't normally my thing, but Wedding March constantly took the eye in the paddock prior to her fine fourth in Sunday's Prix Marcel Boussac and she has the makings of a cracking prospect for Godolphin once she steps up to middle distances in 2010.

4: Digging out my phone to take a picture of Sea The Stars as he walked round that same paddock both before and after the big race. Granted, I managed to cut his head off on both occasions, but any horse who can make an old cynic like me do that must be something special.

Tags: Sea The Stars, Total Gallery, Wedding March