Some horses announce themselves early while others take years of careful management to reveal their full potential, and our Group 1star Arapaho sits firmly in the latter camp.
Four and a half years after arriving in Australia, the French-bred gelding has rewarded every ounce of patience with a career-defining victory in the Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) for trainer and long-time client Bjorn Baker, and an ownership group headed by Carl and Lorraine Holt.
At eight years of age, Arapaho produced one of the staying performances of the year as he travelled kindly for Rachel King before unleashing his trademark acceleration at the 300-metre mark. Not only did he put the two-mile query to bed, but he blew it out of the park as he stormed clear to win by almost three lengths in track record time.
The victory added Bjorn’s name to the Sydney Cup winning trainers’ honour roll to join his now-retired father Murray who claimed the honour in 1992 with My Eagle Eye.
Bjorn said he took a leaf out of his father’s book to prepare Arapaho for the Group 1 staying contest.
"We get a bit emotional about this horse at the stables… we love him," Bjorn Baker said post-race.
"We gave him a bit of the Murray Baker treatment on Thursday and he relaxed beautifully today. That entails just doing a solid piece of ground work, and he's a sound horse. We know he's got acceleration, and that's where having a father that won everything but the Melbourne Cup comes into it.
"It was a great ride by Rachel King. She just held him up, held him up, and he exploded which he can do."
Arapaho’s rise has been anything but straightforward. When we sourced him out of France with Mark McStay during the depths of COVID, he profiled as a 1600m to 2000m horse. He looked every bit of a stakes-class galloper with enough versatility and scope to adapt to Australian racing but took a while to truly adjust and show his true ability.
He struggled to win a race in his first year before landing a seven-length romp at Rosehill which, looking back, was the turning point. Hethen progressed gradually to winning the Listed Grafton Cup, the Group 3 Premier’s Cup and the Listed Canberra Cup before culminating in his first Group 1 success in the Tancred Stakes in 2023. It’s been a steady build, but the Sydney Cup wash is moment of transformation – proof that time, conditioning and placement can turn a talented import into a genuine two-mile weapon.
The Sydney Cup was no fairytale bolt from the blue. It was a testament to Bjorn and all of the ownership group that have stayed the course and patiently developed Arapaho into what he is today.
Now, with a second Group 1 on his résumé and his staying credentials beyond doubt, Arapaho has earned the right to aim at the biggest staying prize of all, the Group 1 Melbourne Cup this spring.
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