Partnerships
The Arc de Triomphe first secured state funding in 1935, when the government authorised the Société d’Encouragement to organise a sweepstake on the race, like the Grand Prix de Paris run 3 months earlier. A sweepstake is a lottery where the awarding of the prizes is dependent on both a drawing of lots and the race result. This system was used from 1936 to 1938, the sole difference being that the organisation of the sweepstake was entrusted to the national lottery (created in 1933) run by the government.
After the war, it was not until 1949 that the alliance was renewed between the Arc de Triomphe and the sweepstake, a special section of the national lottery. It had a jackpot of 50 million francs, which enabled the Arc prize money to be increased fivefold each year – it currently offers 25 million francs to its winner – and the purse of all the races on what is a particularly bumper weekend upgraded. As a result, the Grand Criterium was added to the Arc meeting for four years, after which it returned to its usual slot on the calendar, one week later. As the years passed, however, the assistance from the national lottery dwindled, to the point that, by the 1970s, it had become only symbolic. And in 1982, the Arc served as a support for a national lottery sweepstake for the final time.
Also in 1982, the Arc de Triomphe joined forces with a London-based hotel chain, Trusthouse Forte, which owned some eight hundred hotels around the world, including two luxury hotels in Paris, the Plazza Athénée and the George V. This relationship would last six years, until 1987.
In 1988, TF was usurped by another hotel chain, the Italian Ciga Hotels group, whose major shareholder was the Aga Khan. It was a marriage made in heaven that would make the “Ciga Weekend” the focal point of world racing. In 1989, the Saturday was enriched by the Grand Critérium, then in 1991, the Prix du Cadran was added, making it a spectacular weekend of five Group I races. On 12 October 1991,
35,000 racegoers (30,000 of them paying) flocked to Longchamp and a further 45 million watched the race on TV, courtesy of the nineteen television channels covering this now major sporting event. After their six years of lavish cohabitation came separation and in 1994, the Arc was reunited with its former suitor Trusthouse Forte, but their renewed tryst lasted just 3 years. Remaining single for 1997 and 1998, the Arc found a partner again in 1999, and once more it was a hotel group, the Hôtels et Casinos du groupe Lucien Barrière. This relationship was to last nine years, up until 2007.
2008 brought with it a new partnership. Agreed for a 5-year period with Qatar, a young country in the midst of a boom, it has resulted in a doubling of the prize money of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, from 2 to 4 million euros. The partnership was extended in 2010 for another ten years, ensuring sponsorship until 2022. It has also allowed French racing to enter a new phase in the history of the Arc, which in 2008 became the most richly rewarded turf race in the world. This partnership has primarily been concluded to promote the races organised by the Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club (QREC, founded in 1975), which is venturing into the world of the English thoroughbred with a most ambitious project.
The overall purse for the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe weekend now stands at 6.7 million euros, including €5m for the feature race only. The card consists of fifteen English thoroughbred races (7 of them Group 1 and 4 Group 2), along with two Group I events for Arabian purebreds, organised by France Galop and the AFAC (Association Française du Cheval Arabe de Course). The first of the Arab purebred races is for four year-old fillies and will be run on Arc Saturday under the name, The Qatar French Arabian Breeders Challenge. The second race, the Qatar Arabian World Cup, is the world’s most prestigious event for Arabian purebreds, courtesy of €450,000 in prize money. It is run immediately after the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
The race winners, full details of which can be consulted on the Officiel du Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe website, bear witness to this fact.
Click here to access the race’s Wikipedia page.
Doubles and near misses
Only 7 horses won the race twice:
Ksar in 1921 and 1922 ;
Motrico in 1930 and 1932 ;
Corrida in 1936 and 1937 ;
Tantième in 1950 and 1951 ;
Ribot in 1955 and 1956 ;
Alleged in 1977 and 1978 ;
Treve in 2013 and 2014.