Impact latest example of Rouget’s genius

JEAN-CLAUDE ROUGET forever goes under the radar when there’s talk of Europe’s greatest trainers and yet this man is up there with the best of them.

Aidan O’Brien has won half of the last dozen Derbys. The Frenchman winning five of the last eight Prix du Jockey Clubs matches that.

O’Brien is a genius, but having all that blue-blooded stock gives him a head start. Rouget wins Classics with horses who were not bred to win Classics and has done for years. He has never had a lorryload of Galileos but has won the races that matter with offsprings of Exit To Knowhere, Dr Fong, Noverre and Liberato. Even his latest French Derby hero Ace Impact cost a mere €75,000 as a yearling and is already over-achieving for one with his pedigree.

This is a man who used to train a few ropey jumpers for a living. His breakthrough was a horse called Millkom who, like his trainer, emerged from humble beginnings to win a Prix Jean Prat and the Man o’War Stakes in America. Talk about earning your stripes – his is one rags to riches to tale that’s up there with the best of them.

As for a second Arc with Ace Impact? I wouldn’t hold your breath. Unlike your typical Frenchman, the wily old Rouget is not goggle-eyed towards Longhcamp and never has been.

That great colt Almanzor swerved Paris for Ascot’s Champion Stakes in 2016 and I have a suspicion his latest star might chart a similar course.