IS he a great horse? Is he better than Frankel? Is he the best we’ve ever seen?

Slow down, take a deep breath and, perhaps, appreciate rather than compare.

As was expected, Arrogate won the Dubai World Cup last Saturday.

Just not in the expected manner. Watching it on a flat screen in America, the worst question any of us can ask while watching a horse race blurted out.

“Where is he…?”

Looking for the gun-metal freak on or near the lead, the long and low stride, Juddmonte’s iconic pink cap and sash, Mike Smith’s drop and drape…nothing.

It wasn’t until announcer Terry Spargo relayed the unbelievable did our eyes jut to the left and stare, like the tennis game stopped because the ball got stuck in the back fence.

“He’s last…?”

Then he wasn’t. Arrogate gradually righted his stride, gradually began to inch closer, gradually warmed to the task, gradually pulled off the impossible, rallying from last to run down Gun Runner to win the Dubai World Cup. Trained by Bob Baffert, Arrogate added another rung in the ladder of his stratospheric ascent.

A year ago, he was an unraced son of Unbridled’s Song with big shoes to fill, another head-scratcher in Juddmonte’s Derby venture with Bob Baffert. Now, he’s a Travers winner, a Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, a Pegasus World Cup winner and a Dubai World Cup winner. He’s earned $17,084,600 - and the counting has far from stopped.

“He’s got it all,” Smith said.

With it all comes comparisons. Moments after the World Cup, the headlines and pundits started, comparing Arrogate to the greatest of the greats. To Secretariat. To Man o’ War. To Frankel.

Apples meet oranges. Lemons meet bananas. Pineapples meet mangos.

I have no opinion on who’s better. Because I don’t care who’s better.

For two minutes on Saturday, Arrogate was the best. The best in that moment of time, the best at that test, the best against who showed up that day.

When he needed to scale Everest – quickly – he did. I love the clarity of the horse race. First one to the wire wins this race. Not the next race. This race.

The moment when it happens, the denouement hits like a lighting bolt through your kitchen table. Is he better than Secretariat? Man o’ War? Frankel? Who knows, who cares.

If you worry about comparing things, ranking things, creating order in an order-less world, you lose sight of the world. Especially when it comes to racing.

Do you know what was good about Arrogate? Not that he somehow broke into the realm of Secretariat, or Man o’ War or Frankel.

No, what was good about him was he took us someplace else for two minutes. Just like Secretariat did 16 times. Man o’ War did 20 times. And Frankel did 14 times.

Nah, I don’t know or care if Arrogate is as good as Frankel or any other horse. I just know he took me someplace special, someplace rare, Saturday morning. That’s good enough for me.