No fluke about the Dewhurst result - but established European powers left with more questions than answers at Newmarket

The most important rule of racing is that nothing is ever guaranteed. That core tenet of the sport can be easily forgotten when the likes of Godolphin and Coolmore dominate, but a timely reminder was provided by the unlikely link-up of James Doyle and owner Zhang Yuesheng with a decisive upset in the Dewhurst Stakes. 

The highlight in this season's juvenile calendar was billed as a familiar locking of horns between Charlie Appleby and Aidan O'Brien. Distant Storm and Gstaad were all the rage in the betting, while anyone not in those two camps looked to Eve Johnson Houghton to disrupt proceedings, having already done it recently with Zavateri at the Curragh.

As the runners strode around the paddock before the day's feature, Appleby and O'Brien took up their familiar roles. The Ballydoyle briefing was extensive, the Godolphin camp shared a quick word and a joke. As Appleby finished giving Billy Loughnane a leg-up on Saba Desert, his last of three runners, he stepped back to let Gstaad pass by, catching Christophe Soumillon's eye.