John Gosden's Enable made history by becoming the first horse to win three King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes after making light work of the two Ballydoyle colts at Ascot on Saturday.
The daughter of Nathaniel was winning her 11th Group One contest and she treated her two rivals with disdain, tanking all over them in driving rain.
Last year’s Irish Derby winner, Sovereign, took them along at a brisk pace, but, while William Buick was bustling him along in the lead as the bell rang on the turn for home, Frankie Dettori was sitting motionless in his slipstream.
He had time for a nonchalant look over his shoulder to see where Japan was, but that rival was toiling in third under Ryan Moore leaving Enable to enjoy a smooth run for home.
She won by five-and-a-half lengths without fuss, Dettori celebrating a record-equalling seventh King George win himself, making him the joint most successful rider in the race along with Lester Piggott.
An overjoyed Dettori told ITV1: "She's unbelievable. She's six, but John has done a great job.
"Three King Georges has never been done before - and now we're going to try the impossible and win three Arcs!
"I love her so much."
The winning trainer spoke with a typically more measured tone, but there was no hiding his admiration for Enable.
"She's trained beautifully for this," said Gosden.
"I was clear she wasn't tuned up properly for (her comeback run in) the Eclipse, but she's back in top order, there's no doubt about that.
"I was expecting to see that, but life can be full of disappointments.
"Some great horses have won this twice - but to do it three times, she's quite some race mare."
“I’m emotional about it because she’s special” - @FrankieDettori revels in Enable’s third King George win, speaking to @hayleyjanemoore… pic.twitter.com/PiBU3xB1ot
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) July 25, 2020
Gosden said: "With Anthony Van Dyck not there, it was obvious Sovereign would set a solid pace, not a mad one. Given Japan has won a Juddmonte International over 10 furlongs, he was always going to ride him to beat us for toe, but it went perfectly.
"I'm always worried here when you get rain on quick ground, because they can lose their hind legs, but thankfully that didn't happen.
"Her work had been very good leading into this, and she was quite imperious today.
"It's a pleasure to see when Frankie's looking round, but if you do it too much you might fall off! She won it very nicely - I think he only gave her one flick.
"As they get older, they get more professional and think once they are two or three lengths clear they can ease up, but you never know if another horse is coming."
He added: "It was a small but elite field today. There aren't that many about once Ghaiyyath elected to go to York, and the Oaks and Derby winners live at Ballydoyle. To that extent, the best were on show.
"She trained really well for this. Last year Crystal Ocean was a hard nut to crack, and there was a certain Waldgeist in third, and we know what he went and did (won the Arc)
"On the other hand, if she had won that day in France she wouldn't have been here today.
"I'd been very open that I let her come in her own time this year - she's highly intelligent, she doesn't need me to ask her too much, she brought herself here in top nick today.
"Between her training herself and Frankie training her, sometimes there's not much room for me!"
Enable looks likely to make her next appearance at next month's Ebor Festival at York, before her bid for more history in Paris.
Gosden said: "York has always been on the agenda - there are two races (Juddmonte International and Yorkshire Oaks),and we'll look at both, as we did last year.
"York could be really exciting, with an exceptional Oaks winner (Love) heading there as well.
