The Arc is everything a Flat Group 1 should be - unlike those for slow plodders

For this diehard jumps purist, there are not many dates in the Flat calendar that unfailingly get the juices flowing, but the first Sunday in October is a glorious exception.

Don't get me wrong, stars or storylines emerge most years to give each Flat campaign something to hang its hat on, and in recent times it has leapfrogged the jumps scene as the discipline most likely to give the common man or woman a tilt at the big time. It's rare we're left pining hopelessly for a return of the jumps in the height of summer.

Last year the brilliance of Love and Tarnawa, that epic Irish Champion Stakes joust between Magical and Ghaiyyath, and Battaash's blistering five-furlong bursts helped to elevate the Covid-19 ravaged 2020 season beyond the ordinary. There is usually plenty to sustain interest levels, although it's rarely the staying contests.