Waldgeist is german for “ghost of the wood”, and that seems an appropriate way to depict this year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner.

It all seemed to be going to plan when Frankie Dettori sent Enable to the front at the 400-metre pole, just as he did for her two previous Arcs. On Betfair, she traded as short as 1.07 in the run and even watching the race through television you could hear celebratory cheers from a crowd expecting to witness racing history.

However any racing enthusiast knows you only count your money when the dealing is done. Waldgeist was that ghastly river card.

It wasn’t in the script but Andre Fabre, who pre-race rather uniquely described the prospect of beating Enable as “shooting Bambi” wasn’t acting to the script and it was the son of Galileo who ghosted in under a superb ride from Pierre-Charles Boudot to play the party-pooper role.

Deflation, agony and despair were some of the words used by other media outlets to describe the collective feeling at ParisLongchamp. They seem a little over the top in describing a horse race but make no mistake about it, Enable is a real rarity, a flat horse who has captured the imagination of racing and sport fans.

For me, I always know when a horse joins the mainstream of sport rather than just racing waters, because my friends, who are unenthusiastic racing fans, will enquire about the horse in question. That was very much Enable, a star flat racing needs. In that respect, it’s a pity she didn’t win but sport simply can’t always go to script because it would just be boring .

Waldgeist and Pierre-Charles Boudot getting up to win the Qatar Prix De L'Arc De Triomphe from Enable (pink cap) \ Healy Racing

While there was understandably a melancholic feeling in the aftermath of the race, I couldn’t help but feel Waldgeist and his connections were done something of a disservice. This was a significant win for a number of reasons.

Firstly it was Andre Fabre’s eighth win in the race. In one of the biggest flat races in the world, that is remarkable, four more wins than any other trainer. His handling of Waldgeist has been superb and it reminded me a lot of Cloth Of Stars. That Godolphin colt promised the world early in his classic season but fizzled out and seemed like a busted flush before he was improved and able to win Group 1 races as an older horse. He finished second to Enable in 2017 Arc, trying to concede her 10lbs, and then he finished third to her last year, but by a smaller margin.

Waldgeist was sent off 3/1 for an excellent renewal of the Irish Derby which contained Cracksman and Wings Of Eagles. He finished fourth to Capri that day and the rest of his three-year-old campaign was a disappointment - he was beaten by Danehill Kodiac in an Ascot Group 3 and well held in a German Group 1 at Baden Baden.

But Fabre revitalised him and during his four-year-old campaign he won at Group 1 level and finished a close fourth in the Arc last season. This time, Fabre went one step further and Waldgeist will always be remembered as the horse who toppled Enable.

Some have said he wasn’t a fashionable Arc winner because he has been beaten more times than he has won. That seems a little unfair but arguably heaps more credit on Fabre and what he has done to get this horse to win the Arc at the age of five, the first to do so since Marienbard in 2002.

Waldgeist gets a kiss from Pierre-Charles Boudot after winning their win \ Healy Racing

It was also superb ride from Boudot, who rode the son of Galileo ice cold and delivered him with a perfectly-timed run. I don’t think his decision to move Waldgeist out to the centre of the track was solely to avoid traffic and subsequent races on the card suggested that this was the place to be. Boudot was one of only four France-based jockeys in the race and while much was made of Dettori’s know-how around Longchamp, the two-time French champion jockey was very much in his own backyard.

Waldgeist’s win was also a much needed triumph for French racing. All season, many French group races have been raided wilfully by British and Irish horses and this was a first 'home' Arc winner since Treve in 2014.

Finally, I’ve seen many comments that we are unlikely to see another attempt at a third Arc for many years. I’d be disappointed if this was the case. Treve became the first ever horse to attempt a hat-trick in 2015 but just four years later we’ve had a second attempt.

Andre Fabre, trainer of Waldgeist \ Healy Racing

The economics of the breeding industry will always lure the owners of flat racing’s champions and maybe it will be another mare who will again be the next to have a go at the treble. But, with many in the industry keen to condemn the news last week that Crystal Ocean will be marketed as a National Hunt stallion, perhaps there will be more of an incentive to plough on with the older stayer in the coming years.