SO it was not to be for Enable, whose bid for an historic third Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe foundered at the very end of a race that few who watched from afar, and none of the tens of thousands there on course, are likely to forget.

The roar which erupted as she hit the front and took a length or two out of her rivals between the 400-metre and the 200-metre markers was unlike anything I have heard on a racecourse but soon turned into groans of disbelief as Waldgeist ran her down.

So quickly was Waldgeist finishing in relation to Enable that he had nearly two lengths to spare come the line, despite getting to the front with little more than 50 metres to go.

The record-breaking Prix du Jockey Club winner Sottsass was the same distance back in third, with Japan half a length behind him, but the rest were well beaten off in what had been a strongly run race in quite testing conditions.

That phrase “in relation to” is important in the above, for closer inspection of the sectionals (official ones were provided by France Galop but were a little rough around the edges) show that it was not that Waldgeist was finishing quickly but that everything else was finishing slowly.

Each runner’s speed from 600m out was below 100% of its average race speed, at a course and distance for which about 101.5% is par.

Magical (fifth) was one of the principals who suffered most for chasing the pace set by Ghaiyyath, but Enable and Sottsass paid a bit more for doing similar than did Japan and Waldgeist.

That is not to say that Waldgeist was “lucky”, but it would have been closer – and maybe very close indeed – had Enable been held onto for a bit longer, at least in theory.

Overall

As it is, the overall time of the Arc was, unsurprisingly, very good, with Waldgeist running to 129, nudged up to 130 due to sectionals, and Enable (123/126), Sottsass (124/127) and Japan (123/125) all posting pretty big figures also.

Waldgeist had hinted at something like this on a few occasions previously, not least when running away with the Ganay here in April, but had usually come up a bit short when it really mattered.

However, he is game and tenacious, as well as classy, and those attributes came to the fore on the biggest day of all.

Stamina

While stamina proved to be Waldgeist’s strongest suit, it is possible to view Enable as essentially a 10-furlong/12-furlong performer who often beat her rivals for speed as much as anything. Her Irish Oaks sectionals – at the end of a steadily run race on firm ground – remain some of the most impressive I have ever seen.

Enable is better judged on some other efforts, and is probably superior overall to Waldgeist when receiving a sex allowance, if not by much: this second lifetime defeat was far from a disgrace.

Both she and Waldgeist are five-year-olds and may not be round for long, but the three-year-olds Sottsass and Japan promise to be major players at the highest level in 2020.

Quite what the future is for Ghaiyyath is difficult to predict. There is nothing wrong with his sensational German win, but he has had a stop-start career overall, and doing too much too soon was only a minor part of the problem here (he was also living on his nerves in the preliminaries). He certainly has plenty to prove again now.