Only one could be successful, of course, and the plaudits at Sandown on Saturday were properly reserved for Notnowcato and his resourceful jockey. But their success in the Coral Eclipse Stakes may have owed less to Ryan Moore's dramatic solo manoeuvre, seeking better ground on the stands' rail, and rather more to his vigilance earlier in the race.

Anyone perceiving anything sinister in the way the pace was influenced by two of the four Ballydoyle runners, Archipenko and Yellowstone, needs to develop a better sense of the merciless demands of racing at this level. After all, when they rushed from the gate, they were in pursuit of a horse supplemented to the field specifically to ensure a pace that suited the odds-on favourite, Authorized. In abruptly reining back after two furlongs, leaving Champery to gallop clear, they merely tried to stem that artificial advantage. A strong gallop would have played into the hands of the Derby winner, who was dropping in trip, whereas a test of speed would most obviously benefit George Washington, who had never won beyond a mile. Importantly, however, it suited the stable's other three runners equally well - as Yellowstone himself proved by running the race of his life in fourth. This may have been playing hard, but it most certainly was not playing dirty.

Peter Chapple-Hyam, Authorized's trainer, decorously acknowledged that the Ballydoyle riders had been perfectly within their rights. But he could not disguise an aggrieved sense that his champion had been ambushed, somehow or other, in what he described as "a right mess-up". Both Chapple-Hyam and Frankie Dettori, his rider, lamented that Authorized had done enough to beat the horses around him, only to be mugged by Notnowcato on the other side of the track. At the time, it was natural to reproach Dettori, and the other riders, for meekly keeping to the far side. But Seb Sanders won a later race by staying there on his own, and Moore's real opportunism had perhaps been in taking Notnowcato forward once the pace slackened - and then poaching a decisive lead as he crept across the track.

Dettori seemed confident, but after engaging smoothly, Authorized soon began to labour. Drifting right under pressure, he seemed to betray something of the depletion that has prevented the past four Derby winners adding another race between them. Authorized remains favourite for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot on Saturday week, but anyone still keen to back him should wait until Chapple-Hyam confirms the colt's well-being. For now, the trainer is confining himself to gracious words. "I take my hat off to Notnowcato," he said yesterday. "He proved the best horse on the day. Of course, I'm bitterly disappointed for Authorized. But we live to fight another day."

As for George Washington, he nearly caught Authorized on the far side, but the extra distance on testing ground did not play to his strengths. Of course, some will be exasperated by the way these champions resist idolatry. To them, the showdown became a letdown. They will treat the plain, yeoman worth of Notnowcato, and the modest virtue of preparation that exalted his rider, as an anti-climax. But it is precisely the reluctance of horses to stick to their script that rids it of glibness and banality. Saturday marked a startling coming of age for the young rider whose first championship, last year, was largely a matter of graft and consistency. At this level, Moore only managed to get his foot in the door with a success on this same horse at York in August. But if a broken arm cost him the first two months of the season, and any hope of retaining his title, then this tour de force - a 2,375-1 four-timer on the card - represented an irrevocable breakthrough.

His trainer, Sir Michael Stoute, felt the other riders lacked respect for Notnowcato in leaving him to his own devices. Regardless, they will never again make the same misjudgement of the jockey.

Chris McGrath

Nap: Maysarah (Bath 5.15)

NB: Fantastic Morning (Bath 3.15)