Les Arcs: Doncaster-trained race horse who won prestigious races at Ascot and Newmarket dies

Les Arcs won two prestigious Group One races – the highest level of horse racing in Britain – in 2006 to be crowned the best American-bred horse in Europe that year.

The bay gelding, who was owned by former football agent Willie McKay and trained by Tim Pitt at Martin Grange Farm in Bawtry, died on Tuesday aged 22.

Les Arcs burst onto the scene when, ridden by John Egan, he won the 2006 Platinum Jubilee Stakes, then known as the Golden Jubilee Stakes, at Ascot followed by the July Cup weeks later.

Egan said: “When Willie got him he was rated 72 and ended up winning two Group One’s, it was some achievement.

"It would be like going from the third division of football to the Premier League.”

Les Arcs earned more than £500,000 in prize money, winning 12 of his 42 races and placing in a further ten.

Egan, who is still a jockey, said: “What he did was unbelievable.

"When he was stepping up and going through the divisions it was fantastic."

The horse’s achievements even earned the attention of the late Queen Elizabeth II, an owner and breeder of many thoroughbred horses.

Egan said: “After the Golden Jubilee Stakes Willie met Her Majesty and they had a good chat about him.

"Two weeks later he won the July Cup, which was one of the most prestigious you could win.”

Les Arcs later raced in Japan before spending the final years of his life at McKay’s stables in Bawtry.