“May the best man win,” the track announcer said, a few seconds before the stalls opened for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe here on Sunday. Two and a half minutes later, though, it was two fillies that crossed the line separated by a short neck, as Enable held off Sea Of Class to become only the seventh dual winner of the race. Which of them is the better racehorse, however, is still as much a matter of opinion as it was on Sunday morning.

Enable did not run up to her very best form here, which was to be expected after an 11-month gap between her victory at Chantilly last October and her attempt to follow up back at the Arc’s traditional home on the outskirts of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne. She was also tiring in the closing stages after sitting close to a strong pace for much of the race.

In every other respect, however, she enjoyed a perfect trip around Longchamp under Frankie Dettori, who was riding in his 30th Arc and winning for the sixth time. Dettori was able to take a prominent position from his ideal draw in stall six and then pick his moment in the straight to carve out a lead that was shrinking by the moment in the closing stages but ultimately proved decisive.

James Doyle, on Sea Of Class, had none of those luxuries. From his wide draw in 15 he had little option but to “drop her out the back and pray”, as no less an expert than Lester Piggott put it beforehand to his daughter, Maureen Haggas, the wife of Sea Of Class’s trainer, William.

Doyle turned right coming out of the stalls and settled Sea Of Class second-last of the 19 runners. There he was forced to stay, perhaps 20 lengths off the lead and at least 15 adrift of Enable, until he shook the reins and asked his mount to quicken at the top of the final straight. It was a magnificent charge, with echoes of Mtoto’s brave but futile attempt to run down Tony Bin in Dettori’s first Arc back in 1988, and while Doyle and Sea Of Class found a way past 16 opponents, Enable and Dettori defied all their efforts.

“She did everything I asked and just cruised through and in another three strides, we would have won,” Doyle said. “It was always going to be hard from that draw.”

Sea Of Class and Enable could both return to Longchamp next year for a rematch, though Prince Khalid Abdullah, Enable’s owner, may be as keen to breed from his filly as he is to attempt an unprecedented third success. On Sunday, though, the glory belonged to Dettori and Enable and the rider set out to celebrate as only he can.

“This was probably my most nervous [in any Arc],” Dettori said afterwards. “I found myself in a fantastic spot, the first part of the race she was OK and, as we got to the false straight, the life in the old girl came back. I knew then we were in business. I waited as long as I could and, when I said ‘come on, let’s go’, the trademark turn of foot was there. The last 50 yards she was tired but she’d had 11 months off and only one prep race. She wasn’t the Enable of last year but she’s got the job done.”

John Gosden paid tribute to Enable’s willing attitude after a truncated season that started only in September.

“She has a fantastic mind and she’s a real competitor,” Gosden said. “It’s like being a football manager when you’ve got someone who always goes out and gives you 100% and you can build a team around them. She’s one of those.

Quick Guide Godolphin Group One double Show Godolphin’s two principal trainers in Newmarket, Charlie Appleby and Saeed bin Suroor, secured a Group One winner apiece at Longchamp on Sunday as Royal Marine and Wild Illusion took the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and the Prix de l’Opera respectively. Royal Marine stepped up from a maiden win at Doncaster last month to beat Broome, from the Aidan O’Brien stable, by a neck, and was cut to around 20-1 for next year’s 2,000 Guineas.

"I asked the jockey [Oisin Murphy] to go in front, even though it was a small field," Suroor said. "In the last two furlongs, I was sure he was going to win. The options are open, he could go towards the Guineas next year."

William Haggas, who was narrowly denied victory in the Arc when Sea Of Class went down by a short neck behind Enable, sprang a surprise in the final Group One event of the afternoon when One Master, a 47-1 chance ridden by Pierre-Charles Boudot, took the Prix de la Foret.

The win completed an excellent afternoon for British stables following the earlier success of Michael Dods’s Mabs Cross in the Prix de l’Abbaye.

Only Fabrice Vermeulen’s filly Lily’s Candle, in the Prix Marcel Boussac, kept a Group One event in France after racing on Sunday.



“I had a tiny hiccup between [her prep run at] Kempton and here, which I didn’t need. It was a slight temperature thing. Aidan [O’Brien] tried to make it a test of stamina [for his five runners] and there’s no doubt that the way it was run tested her fitness to the umpteenth degree.

“The last 100m were an eternity for myself, the jockey and the filly but in the final analysis it’s down to her and also to Prince Khalid Abdullah, who’s produced a filly like this. He’s here today to see her win a second Arc and it’s really all about him and the filly.”

Haggas was struggling to put his thoughts into words in the immediate aftermath of the race. “You can’t, really,” he said. “James had to ride her like that. Another stride and it would have been a great ride. She’s a brilliant filly, though. It was a great race from that draw and James made a very brave decision to do what he did. But I’m thrilled with him and I’m thrilled with her.”

Following only two trips to the track so far this year it seems likely that Enable will now head to the Turf at the Breeders’ Cup in Kentucky early next month, a meeting that her owner has always supported. She is now an odds-on chance to win at Churchill Downs, while Sea Of Class, assuming that she stays in training, seems certain to have a campaign in 2019 built around a return to Longchamp next October with a score to settle.