Longchamp's Arc experience certainly an improvement on 2018

The man in the queue for the free buses out of Longchamp on Sunday was just about managing to defy gravity. His legs were in a standard upright position but his upper body sagged to an angle approaching 45 degrees and he occasionally snatched a railing to ensure he didn’t completely topple over.

In a peculiar way it was a positive success metric for the second staging of the Arc at the rebuilt Paris track in that it proved that in the time between the gates opening and the sixth race taking place it was possible to buy enough drinks to get into such a state.

Queuing for drinks had been one of the main complaints when the new-look Longchamp was unveiled 12 months earlier. Along with queuing for pretty much everything else too.

On that day one racegoer had memorably concluded: “This place is brilliant – as long as you don’t want to eat, drink, have a bet or go to the toilet.”

The course management faced a substantial task to increase customer-satisfaction levels after a testing debut and it is fair to say that, while Enable heartbreakingly failed to improve on her 2018 performance, Longchamp certainly did.

I can’t help but worry that the new grandstand’s golden cladding will gradually discolour as the years pass, but on Sunday it gleamed in the gorgeous autumn sunshine and from the word go racegoers were given a far nicer welcome than in 2018.

The course created a buzz that helped rev up the air of excitement as the clock ticked down to Enable’s hat-trick mission. Track announcers on this side of the channel sometimes have a love of the sound of their own voice that can jar, but the bilingual micsmith on duty in Paris was cheery rather than annoying and ensured visitors from the UK, Ireland and France were kept informed of what was coming up and where they could go to get the most of their day.

There were nice touches here and there, such as a set of starting stalls that people could climb into and have their pictures taken from the front, and there was generally far less walking around in the hope of finding somewhere to watch races or get a drink only to be told that access was denied.

Yes, there were still queues, mostly for the bars on the upper floor behind the stand, but if you strolled around you could find places where a drink could be purchased in less than a minute.

In a nod to sustainability, beer was sold in commemorative cups in return for a Euro deposit, but many people decided for that money they were better off taking them home as a souvenir.

Jack and Hayley from Surrey give it all a thumbs-up. “It’s miles better this time,” said Jack. “The only long queues have been for the men’s toilets, but it seems a lot quieter than last year.”

Freddy Tylicki made the journey with his sister Madeleine in the hope of seeing Enable make history and he reported a far more enjoyable experience than 12 months earlier when it hadn’t been as easy as it might have been for someone in a wheelchair to find their way around.

Not everything was perfect. It was too hard to get a decent view of the horses in the paddock, not helped by the fact that a sizeable area to the back of it was unused, and the music they played in the direct aftermath of Waldgeist’s stunning win, which sounded like a poor-quality cover of a Whitesnake hit, was hideously out of kilter with the general mood.

Fair enough, it would have been asking a lot of the person in charge of the public-address system to have a Morrissey track to hand in case Enable was mown down just as it looked like she would pull off the victory everyone had come to see, but this was a tacky choice whatever the circumstances.

And the task of making it remotely possible to follow what was happening in the Abbaye proved beyond Longchamp. This remains the most peculiar big race of them all.

Unless you have access to one of the swanky boxes at the top of the stand, visibility of the sprint course is restricted to TV screens and even then, thanks to the director rapidly flicking from head-on shots to pictures from the opposite side of the track to the main stand, it is a bewildering blur of horses and jockeys that suddenly ends when viewers realise the runners have hurtled past the jamstick.

It will be interesting to see how the facilities cope in the event of rain and also how many cross-channel customers travel next year. Jack and Hayley were not the only ones who said they were not going to make the effort this time until it was apparent Enable would be there, and next year’s field might lack a big-ticket horse.

But few inside Longchamp on Sunday can have had many complaints about their day out apart from the wondermare just failing to deliver, and who is to say there will not be another mass pilgrimage to Paris in 2020 to see the unbeaten Pinatubo add to his Guineas, Derby and assorted other victories?

The new Longchamp is very different and not entirely perfect. But when you stand there watching the world’s best Flat race, with the Eiffel Tower poking above the autumnal trees in the distance, it is still an extremely special place.

Tired substitute rule needs freshening up

The rule changes that were introduced before this football season have had varying degrees of success. The best has been the removal of the requirement for goal kicks to leave the penalty area before they can be touched.

This has led to some incredible sweeping moves from one box to the other as teams have sprung the press and exploited the space this has created. It has also contributed to some comically ridiculous goals as centre-backs have lost possession in horrifically dangerous places.

One new directive that has been policed with disappointing inconsistency is the insistence on substituted players leaving the field at the nearest point of the sidelines.

The intention was good because too much time was being wasted by hooked players ambling towards their bench, but there is scope for some serious verbal and even physical abuse from the stands as some of those for whom the game is up make their way around the perimeter.

The problem is that most players are still allowed to make their way to the usual departure point at a pace of their choosing, with the referee turning a blind eye.

Unless your name is Darren Murray, a Glentoran player who this week found to his cost that the new rule is enforced occasionally.

As he made his way off the pitch, at a commendably brisk jog it must be noted, he was warned by the ref that he had not exited at the nearest point. And as he crossed the line just in front of his own dugout he was shown a yellow card, his second of the game, which meant the intended replacement had to put his tracksuit back on.

If you are going to create this rule, it has to be applied fairly, but there is another option that would eliminate the need to make substituted players skirt the paddock with opposition supporters snarling at them and also have numerous other benefits in terms of allowing games to flow.

It is high time rolling subs were introduced. This column has for many years despaired at the length of time it takes for such a basic act as one player coming on and another coming off to happen, and now action is needed.

When an injured player is (pointlessly) required to go to the sideline and receive permission to come back on it happens without any fanfare and there is no reason why substitutions should be any different.

As long as the fourth official is informed of impending changes, there is no logical reason why matches should be stopped so the swap can take place.

The player being replaced would need to be off the pitch before the new one entered the arena. The stadium announcer could then ensure the crowd is aware of what has happened, and the match could carry on without us having to suffer the elongated ceremony that currently takes place up to six times per game.

Will the racists heed walk-off warning?

It is fundamentally admirable for England’s players to make clear they will leave the pitch if subjected to racist abuse in either of their upcoming Euro 2020 qualifiers in Prague and Sofia.

The culture of inadequate fines and sanctions in such situations has gone on for far too long and something needs to be done to finally show the bigots their actions will have suitable consequences.

However, if you are a racist moron and your team is, say, 2-0 down after 78 minutes, are you really going to heed to warnings of opposition players and suppress your vile desire to abuse those who have a different skin colour to yours? Or might you think, hang on, let’s see whether they will be true to their word?

I’m all for players heading down the tunnel if subjected to racism, but by announcing in advance that this will happen it might actually become a self-fulfilling threat given the appalling nature of the people they are trying to get to behave.

Hopefully fans of all three countries involved in the two games will act in a way that ensures neither racist nor xenophobic chants are heard and that it is the football itself that creates the headlines.

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