Performance metrics: just how good is Arc dark horse Sottsass?

You will not get many Arc runners who are contesting just their second Group 1 and that is what makes Prix du Jockey Club winner Sottsass so difficult to weigh up.

The second and third behind him at Chantilly in June have not run since and the middle-distance crop of three-year-olds in general this year has lacked for depth, so collateral form offers few clues.

What can be taken as more easily transferable is Sottsass's style of running, which on a molecular level refers to the length of his stride and its frequency, or cadence. The best horses sometimes manifest themselves on stride analysis before the form book fully catches up.