Daryz Makes History with Back-to-Back Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe Triumph

Daryz is officially one of the immortals. The four-year-old colt produced a devastating late burst through a 16-strong field at ParisLongchamp to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for the second year running — becoming only the ninth horse in history to claim Europe's most prestigious flat race twice.

Sent off the 13-8 favourite, Daryz repeated his 2025 triumph in front of a roaring Parisian crowd, sweeping past his rivals in the closing stages to win by more than a length from the 28-1 outsider Bay City Roller, with Aidan O'Brien's Diamond Necklace (10-1) back in third. The victory earned connections a winner's cheque of more than £2.5m from a €5m prize fund — but its true value is measured in history.

A finish for the history books

Back-to-back Arc winners are extraordinarily rare. Daryz is the first horse to double up since the great mare Enable in 2017 and 2018, and the first colt to do so since Alleged in 1977 and 1978 — a gap of 48 years. Only nine horses have ever won the Arc twice, placing Daryz in the most exclusive club in European racing.

Mickael Barzalona, his rider, was in no doubt about the scale of what he had just achieved. "To win this kind of race twice proves that Daryz is an exceptional horse," the jockey said. "It was a really tough race, it didn't go as we expected but he showed his talent and that made the difference in the end."

How the race unfolded

The 2026 Arc rarely went to script for the favourite. Barzalona admitted the race "didn't go as we expected", suggesting Daryz did not enjoy the clearest of passages through the 16-runner field. In a championship-tempo contest over a mile and a half, positioning is everything — and for much of the race, the market leader appeared to have serious work to do.

What followed was the mark of a champion. When Barzalona finally found racing room, Daryz unleashed a sustained, relentless run that carried him through the pack and clear of his rivals. Bay City Roller, the rank outsider at 28-1, ran the race of his life to chase him home, while Diamond Necklace gave Ballydoyle a podium finish in third. Behind them, the rest — including several Group One winners — were left to fight over the minor prize money.

The ninth name on a short list

The roll of dual Arc winners is the most exclusive in European racing, and Daryz is now its ninth member. The most recent names on that list tell the story of its prestige: Enable, whose 2017 and 2018 victories made her a global superstar, and before her the great Alleged, the last colt to win consecutive Arcs in 1977 and 1978. Between those two landmarks stretches nearly half a century in which no male horse managed the feat — a drought Daryz has now ended in emphatic style.

Twelve months ago, Daryz announced himself by winning the 2025 Arc. To return against a fresh generation of three-year-olds and battle-hardened older horses, and win again, is the mark of rare durability as well as rare talent.

!1927 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Mon Talisman at Longchamp Credit: Agence Rol, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Keeping a champion in training

That 48-year gap for colts speaks to how hard it is to keep a top-class male horse in training at four. The commercial temptation to retire a champion to stud after his three-year-old season is enormous; the Aga Khan Studs' decision to keep Daryz in training was, in racing terms, a genuine gamble — and one that has paid off spectacularly. This season alone has brought two Group One victories, crowned by the Arc double.

Trainer Francis-Henri Graffard, who has masterminded Daryz's career, never lost faith. "He's a good horse, he's a champion," Graffard said after the race. "I knew that if things were going right for him during the trip he was very hard to beat because he is a real champion."

The trainer's confidence was well placed. Daryz travelled with menace through the ParisLongchamp straight and, once unleashed, simply had too much class for a high-quality field. It was the performance of a horse operating at the very peak of his powers.

What to watch next

The Arc is the centrepiece of a weekend that has become a global showcase for the sport, with the Sunday feature long known as the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The immediate question is whether Daryz will race on at five. The Aga Khan operation has a history of retiring its stars to stud duty, where a dual Arc winner would command enormous fees — but after this triumph, the temptation to chase a historic third Arc will be real. No horse has ever won the race three times; every attempt at the treble has fallen short.

For now, though, Paris can simply savour what it witnessed: a champion who came back, a crowd that roared him home, and a ninth name carved into the most hallowed list in the sport. It was a weekend of high drama across the sporting world — from a stunning Premier League comeback to a first ATP title — but the 2026 Arc belonged, utterly and unarguably, to Daryz.

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