"After all, Workforce has had only four races this season, and five in total. Rested after that mystifying failure at Ascot in July, the Derby winner had been brought expertly back to the boil for the Arc by Sir Michael Stoute and it would seem perverse to board up the storefront after a fresh delivery of stock. Louisville in November, moreover, does not menace a European thoroughbred with the sort of abrupt change in climate experienced at Santa Anita over the past two years. And no rival, either side of the Atlantic, volunteers himself as particularly competent to thwart Workforce should he show up in the same form as at Longchamp. Pending a decision on his participation, bookmakers are already quoting him between 2-1 and 5-2."

Verdict of the numbers: "So is Zarkava the greatest filly to put hoof to turf? The ultimate racehorse? No. In truth she's simply the best three-year-old filly since Bosra Sham." According to one figure maker, Zarkava's rating post-Arc is 127, which puts her ahead of Big Brown, behind Curlin.

"The triumph of Zarkava and Christophe Soumillon in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe yesterday was instead a crescendo of reckless joy, un grand amour between two of the most bewitching talents in French Turf history." Independent turf writer Chris McGrath crushes out on the undefeated filly and her tousled jockey.