James Doyle rues Arc hard luck story for Longchamp runner-up Sea Of Class
The jockey was just denied by Enable in Sunday's thrilling Group 1
JAMES DOYLE has revealed he was 'heartbroken' following Sea Of Class' near-miss in the Arc on Sunday.
The jockey was beaten a short-neck after weaving a passage through the entire field.
It was a valiant effort from the young rider, particularly considering he had to fast in order to to get down to the 8st-9lb required to pilot his mount.
But despite his best efforts weaving through the pack from a torrid draw, Doyle was unable to reel in eventual winner Enable, just failing to thrust his mount's nose in front on the line.
"It was absolute agony. I was heartbroken, more so for everyone that has been connected with her - her owners and William and Maureen (Haggas)," he told At The Races.
"I know we bang on about how much it is a team effort, but it truly is and this filly has come a long way in a short space of time.
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"She is a completely reformed character to the one we first dealt with back in the spring. From my point of view, everyone wants to win the Arc and when you get that close it was a real sickener, but she was beaten by an absolute superstar.
"Enable ran a hell of a race. To do that on her second start of the season and her first run back on turf since the Arc last year was an amazing performance. Full credit to them."
"I guess it's easy for the untrained eye to watch a race and say 'he's come too late', but anyone who had seen Sea Of Class run previously knew what was going to happen," he said.
"All the top-class jockeys I spoke to, from Maureen talking to her father Lester (Piggott), to myself talking to Kieren Fallon, they all said you can't change a horse's running style just because you are running in a different race with a tricky draw and the rest of it.
"We stuck to our game plan. There are many factors you would like to change, but you can't."
He went on: "The draw was no help to us, the size of the field was no help to us, and the amount of horses running in the race that had no chance we couldn't change.
"I didn't have to put on the brakes. There was just one slight moment when I had to angle out a tiny bit and the horse on my inside just shifted and it pushed me a slightly bit left.
"It was just the ground I had to give away. That was the concerning thing and I was concerned right the way through.
"There was no one more frustrated than myself at being beaten. It's the richest race in Europe and it's a sickener, but you can't change it."