Smiles all round as sensational Flightline lives up to the hype in Classic

You know that way strangers smile at each other when something completely extraordinary has just happened, when the thrill of it is still coursing through you and there's that shared knowledge you were lucky to see it and you'll be telling your friends? There was a lot of that going on at Keeneland in the moments after Flightline won his Classic, somehow keeping his aura of dominance in the face of fearsome opposition.

It was great fun to be at the heart of a crowd who so obviously believed that a particular horse really mattered. All along the paddock-side rails, there was a crush of people trying to get a look at him as he walked towards his destiny and a forest of phones were raised in highly speculative attempts at getting a snap. For most, all they saw was Flavien Prat being carried along above head height.

"Go Flightline, go Flightline," sang a little girl on her father's shoulders, one of few with a clear view of her hero. But others naturally had their supporters too. Rich Strike, winless since his 81-1 turn-up in the Kentucky Derby, kept his public waiting before he was last to leave the paddock but still drew his share of cheers, to the visible satisfaction of jockey Sonny Leon.