Freed of the task of chasing her old rival Enable, it was Magical's misfortune to run into another of the world's best as Ghaiyyath dominated Wednesday's Juddmonte International at York.
Magical once more ran her heart out to finish runner-up in a Group One for the sixth time in her career. However, Aidan O'Brien's star could never get to grips with Godolphin-owned winner Ghaiyyath.
Ghaiyyath dominated from the front to justify 11-8 favouritism under William Buick and give Godolphin a fifth success in the prestigious contest.
It was three lengths back to Magical, with Lord North in third and the Guineas hero Kameko fading to fourth.
Having defeated Enable in the Eclipse, and with a Coronation Cup already in the bag, this season Ghaiyyath has added consistency to the brilliance that saw him win a German Group One by all of 14 lengths in 2019.
That he failed to back that up in last year’s Arc meant the giant son of Dubawi had previously been condemned to praise coloured by suspicions that he was a flat-track bully.
But the start of this week’s Ebor Festival action confirmed how the fully mature Ghaiyyath is as good as there is on turf anywhere in the world right now.
Once again nothing was able to reel him in and disrupt his raking rhythm.
Winning in style
Magical momentarily threatened to get close enough to eyeball the favourite but Buick ultimately never had to get overly serious to win in style.
“This horse can do all the things most horses can’t. His high cruising speed, the way he keeps going, and at the business end he has another gear just to finish the race off completely,” the jockey enthused.
“I love him. He’s a high-class horse and he’s now got everything on his CV. He’s been beating the best around at this trip.
“He’s obviously very good at a mile and a quarter. He stays a mile and a half. It’s going to be interesting to see if he’ll get an end of season target like the Arc.
“His highness Sheikh Mohammed and Charlie [Appleby] will decide what’s best for the horse. As long as the ground isn’t bad I’m sure the Arc would be an interesting target for him,” he added.
That would mean a potential return clash with Enable, with the three-year-old Love possibly thrown in for good measure. Bookmaker reaction was to make Ghaiyyath a general 7-1 shot for Longchamp.
However, if the Godolphin camp opt to keep their latest older horse star at a mile and a quarter, he is as short as 5-2 for the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October.
Top-flight victories
It was a fourth top-flight victory in all for Ghaiyyath, a horse bred by no less than Curragh trainer Dermot Weld, and who has won nine of his dozen career starts to date.
The Ballydoyle team also had to settle for minor honours in the Group Two Great Voltigeur Stakes when their 85-40 favourite Mogul managed only third behind the impressive winner Pyledriver.
The latter won so well that the traditional post-Voltigeur date in the St Leger may end up being overlooked.
“We are in the Grand Prix de Paris. The Leger has been on the cards but people are saying we should now go for the Arc.
“He didn’t look like he was stopping today but [jockey] Martin [Dwyer] said he’s got loads of gears and horses with gears normally don’t just stay and stay.
"It's a lovely problem to have!" said Pyledriver's trainer, William Muir.
