Trempolino Runs Off With the Arc de Triomphe and $650,000

Trempolino, coming from deep in the 11-horse field, overtook favored Reference Point and won the $1.1-million Arc de Triomphe Sunday in Paris, giving British jockey Pat Eddery an unprecedented third straight victory in Europe’s richest horse race.

Trempolino’s victory was worth $650,000.

The American-bred Trempolino caught the fading Reference Point down the stretch and held off Tony Bin by less than a length to win in 2 minutes 26.30 seconds, a record for the 1.4-mile race. Triptych, an American-bred horse trained in France, placed third in a photo finish. It was the second consecutive year that Triptych had placed third in the race.

Reference Point, who had won seven of his nine races going in and was ridden by American Steve Cauthen, led for most of the race, but fell back after being passed by Trempolino.

Trempolino, a chestnut offspring of the British horse Sharpen Up and the French horse Trephine, broke the Arc de Triomphe record of 2:27, set last year by Dancing Brave, also ridden by Eddery. The jockey won the race for 3-year-olds and up in 1985 aboard Rainbow Quest and in 1980 on Detroit.