Beaten but unbowed, Enable emerges from Arc defeat with her legacy intact

In the end, it was not to be. The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe will reach its centenary next year without ever yielding a triple winner after Enable, worn down by a hard race on gruelling ground, was caught in the final yards by the Andre Fabre-trained Waldgeist.

The result silenced the British, Irish and French racegoers who had packed out Longchamp hoping – expecting – to witness Enable's march into history. They went home deflated, but most, like Enable's connections, would have been phlegmatic about it. Racing aficionados are familiar with the feeling of glory thwarted. This is not the first time racing's innate unpredictability has spoiled the script.

If this was Enable's swansong, she leaves the turf with her reputation entirely intact. Over the past three years she has met every challenge and, until this day, conquered every foe. In the process, she has earned a legion of admirers and achieved the sort of stature no British Flat horse has boasted since Frankel.