We were wrong about Rouget - but Rouget was not wrong about his magnificent Arc winner

After the field for the 102nd Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe had walked out on to a racecourse that felt as hard as it looked green, one of the 15 runners broke free from the parade and took himself over to the far rail. Ace Impact was suddenly out on his own. The same was true at the end of the race.

In so many ways, this was the right result. No amount of form study could disguise the reality that if this Arc was to be graced by an exceptional winner, it had to be the favourite. The line-up for the sport's most coveted turf race was packed with familiar faces, but only one animal possessed the potential to elevate themselves from the very good to the great. How very good it is to say a great horse may well have won.

The bare result will tell you he is not there yet. Westover was beaten further and more easily by Equinox when the world's number-one racehorse dazzled in the desert six months ago. As he crossed the line, Ace Impact had built a margin of just a length and three-quarters over the wonderfully admirable runner-up, while Onesto was a mere short head further back in third. What we saw here, however, was even more about style than it was substance. Ace Impact's victory was filled with flair. No matter what the winning distance might imply, he was a class apart.