The 80-1 German outsider Torquator Tasso supplied a shock result in the 100th Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Sunday.
Unconsidered beforehand, Torquator Tasso thrived on the testing ground to beat the Irish star Tarnawa by three parts of a length with the Godolphin pair Hurricane Lane and Adayar third and fourth.
Tarnawa's trainer Dermot Weld admitted second was "a lonely place" after coming so near to winning Europe's richest race for a first time.
Weld pointed to overnight rain as the decisive factor in Tarnawa coming up short.
“She has run a super race. You saw the staying Tarnawa rather than the speed Tarnawa. Her speed was of limited value to her today.
“I honestly believe if we didn’t have all that rain last night she would have won. This had always been my plan, my target, but second is a lonely place,” he said.
“This is a very tough game and being a trainer is a very tough life. These are the knocks you take. We had a filly who was at her very maximum today but in that ground she just couldn’t quicken like she can,” Weld added.
Tarnawa’s gallant effort saw her cut to 11-4 to retain her Breeders Cup Turf crown in Del Mar next month.
Weld first tried to win the Arc 40 years ago. In contrast the little known German trainer Marcel Weiss was winning on his first attempt in just his second year with a licence.
It was also a first Arc ride for winning jockey Rene Piechulek. The 34-year-old German had only won at Group 1 level twice before.
“I think it will be only tomorrow that I realise what it really means to win this race,” he said.
If Irish hopes didn’t work out in the Arc then France’s only Group 1 sprint - the Prix de l’Abbaye - produced a momentous first Group 1 success for Co Dublin trainer Ado McGuinness with A Case Of You.
The supplemented three-year-old just nosed out Air De Valse in a desperate finish under jockey Ronan Whelan.
McGuinness, who is based in Lusk, uses a nearby beach as an integral part of his training although A Case Of You had no difficulty switching to the wet turf at Longchamp.
“When he was second in the Flying Five (Irish Champions Weekend) he was my first ever runner in a Group 1 and we supplemented him for this race last week because I knew he’d improve.
“The Flying Five was his first ever run over five furlongs and he’s just got better and better. I think he will be a very good horse next year,” McGuinness said.
“I just can’t believe it. We’ll definitely look at the Breeders’ Cup, either that or put him away and look at Dubai next year,” added the Dubliner.
Paddy Twomey’s Pearls Galore was runner-up to the Godolphin favourite Space Blues in the Prix de la Foret, Europe’s only Group 1 race over seven furlongs.
