A tale of two fillies makes it the best of times, the worst of times in epic Arc

A tale of two fillies unfolded in Paris on Sunday as reigning Arc champion Enable successfully defended her crown at Longchamp in the most nerve-shredding of circumstances, holding off the late, lunging charge of Sea Of Class to win by a short neck and join the ranks of Europe's great racehorses.

Just eight horses have won the Arc twice in nigh on a century and none has done it, as Enable did, off an injury-blighted campaign that began only one month earlier.

It was a triumph for her rider Frankie Dettori, her trainer John Gosden and her owner-breeder Khalid Abdullah, whose racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe accurately described Enable as "the ultimate thoroughbred" and left open the tantalising possibility she could bid for a record-breaking third Arc victory next year.