Spare me the grumbling over weight for age if Adayar or Hurricane Lane win Arc

It is hard to pin down the precise nature of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe's unique appeal. It is not just history, or sympathy towards the host city. Neither of those would get past some of the hard-nosed types who identify as Arc devotees.

The worldwide pull of the race is part of it. The European season is built around the Arc and it also fits well with the Middle East and Japan. The US and Australia tend to be otherwise engaged, but there is enough evidence from European raids on their best middle-distance turf races to suggest their absence is not all that keenly felt.

The generational commingling is probably more important than it ever was. Part of the reason Adayar has caught the imagination is that so few of the better recent Derby winners have taken the King George route. Hardly any of the other three-year-olds in this year's Arc have yet run in an open-age race.