Ralph Beckett is left in tears as Bluestocking pulls off 'extraordinary' victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Ralph Beckett shook his head and said: 'Extraordinary.' He kept repeating the word, his eyes wide, almost as if he needed to convince himself what had seen was true.

It most certainly was. Thrillingly, Bluestocking, Beckett's pride and joy, had galloped relentlessly up Longchamp's rain-sodden straight, answering jockey Rossa Ryan's every call and elevating her trainer into the exclusive club reserved for Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winners.

What a way to do it. Bluestocking hadn't been deemed worthy to get an entry for Flat racing's defining contest in the spring and was only added to the field last Wednesday, costing her owners

Juddmonte the not-insignificant sum of £105,000. But how this gamble paid dividends.

Thanks to Ryan's coming of age in the saddle, as he kept powering forward to hold off the challenge of runner-up Aventure, Bluestocking pocketed £2.5million but, most significantly, showed why Beckett belongs in the most exalted company.

'This is our very best day,' gasped the trainer, having had a tearful embrace with his wife, Izzi, and daughter, Katinka. How poignant those words were as, 12 months ago, he left Longchamp shattered after Westover, another horse he trained for Juddmonte, finished second in this race.

Westover, like Bluestocking, hit the front halfway up the straight but was swamped and when Ryan made his move to thunder past long-time leader Los Angeles, the pessimist in Beckett assumed his runner would be engulfed again.

Not a bit of it. The electricity in her hooves zapped those around her and Ryan, a hugely talented rider, didn't look behind once he had shot clear. Nobody was going to take this ceiling-shattering triumph away from them.

'As much as anything, I expected something to come and run her down,' Beckett admitted. 'I was concerned as it's a long straight but then I looked again and realised it was going to take a good one to go by her. Extraordinary. It's just extraordinary. I grew up watching these colours win this race.'

They aren't just any colours. Pale green, pink and white — these are the colours Frankel wore, and which were also carried to Arc success by

Rainbow Quest, Dancing Brave, Rail Link, Workforce and, most recently, dual-heroine Enable. Bluestocking had made Juddmonte the race's winning-most owners.

'To train horses in these colours is a huge thrill and a privilege but to win an Arc with them is just extraordinary,' Beckett said. 'I had been pleased with how she looked; she is a real professional and always does what is required. She made our job easy.'

Plenty would argue otherwise. The level of competition in the Arc is ferocious but Bluestocking made mincemeat of the field, becoming the ninth filly in the last 14 years to make off with the prize and Ryan showed why his fourth Group One triumph will not be his last.

'My dreams have come true,' said the jockey. 'I owe so much to Ralph.'

The pair has struck up a potent rapport and the compliment was returned, with Beckett — whose Kinross later finished second in the Prix de la Foret — saying: 'He is getting better by the month and he will be a better rider again next year.'

Those sentiments could have been repeated by John Gosden about Kieran Shoemark, who celebrated his first Group One triumph as lead rider for the former champion trainer when Friendly Soul toughed it out in the Prix de l'Opera, a chief supporting race for Arc.

Another filly, Makarova, showed bags of speed to win the Prix de l'Abbaye over five furlongs for another British trainer Ed Walker, with Tom Marquand finishing ahead of his wife, Hollie Doyle on Bradsell. But the queen of the afternoon, undoubtedly, was Bluestocking. In the city of this summer's Olympics, how fitting it was a gold-medal performance.