ace impact: the story
A European N
Ace
Ace Impact was the best three-year-old in the world in 2023, and his story reveals the deep connection between German and French racing industries, writes Adrien Cugnasse Photography by Debbie Burt
OW THAT things have settled down after the amazing performance of French-trained and bred Ace Impact at ParisLongchamp some surprising figures can be noted. The size of the foal crop in France is stable, with a small increase for the last five years, yet the numbers of horses trained in France has dropped by a 1,000 over the last decade. Looking at it from that perspective, it’s not a surprise that so many French-bred horses are winning abroad, but it’s quite unexpected that the best European horse is trained in France.
The co-dependency of French and German racing
Ace Impact was bred in France by the German couple Waltraut and Karl Spanner, and the colt’s story reveals the situation that can be seen on the ground: that French and German racing are very much now two pieces of the same puzzle. With prize-money collapsing in many European countries, owners and trainers have decided to run as often as they can and take advantage of the generous racing programme in France. In return, and more than ever, the French racing system relies on foreign horses to be sustainable, as the Gallic Tote – aka Le PMU – desperately needs runners: there are not enough horses in training in France to support the number of races and the betting turnover. Foreign raiders are completely integrated into the system. Every year they represent 10 per cent of the total runners on the Flat – they compete in the smallest claiming races in the French countryside to Group 1 events in Paris. Forget the dozens of English and Irish horses who cross the Channel for black-type races – among the 5,000 runners who are trained outside of France yet race in the country many come from Spain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, Belgium, and Portugal. However Germany is the biggest provider of runners for the French racetracks – French racing is completely part of the daily life of the German racing community. And the owners of those horses with German trainers understand that if they are going to run their horses so much in France, then their horses in training should have the benefit of French premiums. This is just one reason that has pushed so many German breeders to buy studs in the French countryside, or to board their mares in France. Ace Impact’s breeders Waltraut and Karl Spanner live near to Baden-Baden. They do not come from a racing
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