Rouget Clinches His Sixth Prix du Jockey Club

Certainty is a rare commodity at the top level of this sport, but if Aidan O'Brien is the acknowledged master of the English Derby then Jean-Claude Rouget is rapidly moving out of sight of his rivals when it comes to the modern version of the Prix du Jockey Club (G1).

What a performance!

Ace Impact storms through to win the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club as he runs down favourite Big Rock at @fgchantilly... pic.twitter.com/leWB3si4L4

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 4, 2023

Ace Impact  became his sixth winner overall June 4—matching the achievements of Pascal Bary and Alain de Royer-Dupre—and his fifth in the last eight years.

Jockey Cristian Demuro is well known for his patience, but supporters of Ace Impact must have been nervous for the first two-thirds of the race as the son of Cracksman sat a long last while favorite Big Rock  bossed things from the front under Aurelien Lemaitre.

Halfway up the straight it still looked Big Rock's race to lose, but when Demuro asked the question Ace Impact produced a sustained burst of acceleration that broke his rival's heart, the distance at the line 3 1/2 lengths, with another 2 1/2 back to Poule d'Essai des Poulains (G1) winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi  in third.

In the post-race press conference, Rouget recognized the similarity of his horse's victory with the way Auguste Rodin  had run down King Of Steel at Epsom 24 hours earlier.

However, walking out to receive the trophy in front of the stands, Rouget was still almost struggling to make sense of the way Ace Impact had flown past his rivals.

Rouget said: "These are special moments because every time it's with a challenger; I've never won the Jockey Club with a favorite and beforehand they look like the fourth or fifth chance in the race.

"Each time they beat the favorite. I never look for too much in the prep races, just to get them there at 100% for the big day. After that you need the horse to turn up, and this horse certainly did. More than that, because he hunted down Big Rock, the horse everyone has been talking about, and won by 3 1/2 lengths.

"Unfortunately for his entourage, he came across our horse, who seems exceptional."

Ace Impact was making only his fourth start, his trainer having shelved plans to give him his debut at Deauville last summer, preferring to wait for the calmer waters of Cagnes-sur-Mer in January, before arriving here via Bordeaux and then the same course and distance-listed race as Sottsass  won before his Jockey Club victory in 2019.

"He was pretty untested before," said Rouget. "He put on a demonstration in the Prix de Suresnes but that didn't tell you a lot, it was more like a time trial. When he won first up at Cagnes I thought I saw something in him; he has a different stride to the others and an enormous engine. He has the gas and the will to win."

Rouget confessed he had no idea where the winner would head next as Ace Impact extended his unbeaten record to four—Coral cut him to 5-1 (from 20) for the Eclipse Stakes (G1) and 10-1 (from 33) for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1).

Frankie Dettori's final ride in the Jockey Club ended with Epictetus  finishing an honorable fifth, while Continuous was eighth for Ryan Moore and Aidan O'Brien.  

Only a month on from winning his first Classic with Blue Rose Cen , trainer Christopher Head showed his ability to face up to the other side of the coin after Big Rock's chance of victory vanished within the space of the :11.19 seconds Ace Impact took between the two- and one-furlong marker.

"He's really improved with every piece of work and every race and I'm very happy with his performance," said Head. "If you take the sectional times and put them side by side (with his previous runs), he's still improving. What he's done there is probably the best race of his life.

"I'm very happy and we've encountered a very good horse [Ace Impact]. He is possibly the only horse who could have beaten us."

Leaving the winner's press conference, Rouget quipped: "Don't worry, I don't have anything for the Prix de Diane (G1)."