Snakes on a Plane producer chases Arc glory with Maltese Cross
The man who put Snakes on a Plane on its way to the screen now owns the second favourite for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Film producer George Waud owns Maltese Cross, the three-year-old colt who lines up in Sunday's Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. A colt is a young male horse. Bookmakers have him as second favourite for the race, The Guardian reported on 2 October.
The race is the 105th running of the Arc. Sixteen horses are set to contest it, including Maltese Cross and defending champion Daryz, according to Canadian Thoroughbred. Waud is not travelling for the occasion. He told Racing TV on 1 October: "We're going there to win."
Maltese Cross has earned his place. The son of Sea The Stars finished runner-up in the Derby. He then won the Grand Prix de Paris under Tom Marquand, holding off Amo Racing's Ancient Egypt in a last-gasp finish in July.
He dominated his rivals in the Great Voltigeur at York in August. Connections then decided he would bypass the Betfred St Leger, the season's final Classic for three-year-olds over a longer trip, and aim at the Arc instead. He is already a Group 1 winner, which means a winner at the highest level.
Waud's own run to Longchamp started a long way from the yard. He spent 23 years in Los Angeles working his way up from the bottom rung of the movie industry. He started at the bottom. His first job was as a reader, analysing scripts.
He later worked at Paramount, where he was involved in the remake of The Italian Job. He then worked for New Line Cinema, where he picked out the Snakes On A Plane script after being drawn to it by its title. Samuel L. Jackson signed to play the lead without reading the script.
Back in Britain, Waud served as a co-producer on the award-winning revival of Cabaret in London's West End. The Arc link had been building for weeks. The Guardian's live blog from day one of the York Ebor meeting on 19 August had already mentioned Maltese Cross in connection with the Arc and described Waud as being of Snakes On A Plane fame.
What makes this stand out is the contrast. Hollywood deals in certainties and retakes. The Arc offers neither. Sixteen runners, a big field, and a defending champion in the way. For a general reader, that is the fun of it: a movie man who knows long odds has found a horse who keeps shortening them.
