Zarkava may be retired with perfect record intact

After a glorious interval of certainty in Paris on Sunday, racing was quick yesterday to resume its addiction to conjecture. Some sought to measure Zarkava against champions of the past; others speculated anxiously about her future. The only man whose next thoughts count for anything, however, will instead want to preserve the pristine sense of greatness Zarkava achieved in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe – and that means that she is unlikely to be seen again.

In the euphoria that followed her theatrical success, the Aga Khan plainly felt that Zarkava had fulfilled her destiny. And this was not just a matter of her own talent: she had perfected nearly a century of breeding lore, shared between five generations of his family. As things stand, her legacy is immaculate, and that is precisely how the Aga Khan will want it to remain. He will not need reminding, moreover, that the foals produced by the last filly to win the Arc, Urban Sea, include Galileo, who won the Derby and has himself become an outstanding contributor to the gene pool.

So while some bookmakers are already trying to drum up business on her winning the race again next year, and the Aga Khan himself is formally reserving his verdict, few will expect him to persevere. He has tended to retire his best colts after their second season – including his last two Arc winners, Dalakhani and Sinndar – while Darjina, a top filly who did stay in training, finished second for the sixth time this season at Newmarket on Saturday. As he observed after the Arc: "This is as well as you can do in breeding thoroughbreds."

Certainly Zarkava's trainer, Alain de Royer-Dupré, was pretty legible between the lines yesterday. "How I feel is that I appear to have finished my work," he said. "It was a plan at the start of the season for her to remain unbeaten, and win the Arc. I spoke with His Highness, and we do not have to rush into a decision about her career, whether she races at four or goes off to stud. We will make a decision in four or five days. We have to respect the filly, and there is not much left for her to do. You can't ask them to do too much in their lives."

Whatever she might owe to her genes, Zarkava is also greatly indebted to her trainer, who maintained a critical tension between her brutal physical accomplishments and the precarious temperament common to so many of the great fillies. "She has a temper," agreed her besotted rider, Christopher Soumillon. "But you need a temper to be a champion."

Soumillon set an infectious emotional register on Sunday, both through his daring during the race and his rapture afterwards. "It was the greatest moment of my life when she came into the straight going so easily," he declared. And even some who are required to make a more dispassionate assessment yesterday endorsed his belief that she is exceptional – if not quite one in a lifetime.

In awarding her a provisional rating of 133, Timeform make her the best filly or mare since 1988, when both Miesque and Indian Skimmer, were granted parity on that mark – one surpassed, over the past four decades, only by Allez France (136), Habibti (136), Dahlia (135), Pebbles (135), Petite Etoile (134) and All Along (134).

But the official handicapper, Phil Smith, is taking a more conservative view, rating her just 127, 4lb below Bosra Sham in 1996. "She went into the race on an unexposed 124, and you could argue she is still unexposed on 127," he said. "It was certainly her best performance to date."

Zarkava has never felt the whip in her life, of course. She might well have been affronted had Soumillon tried, but not even her first meeting with colts on Sunday could extend her to her limits. Her performance crowned a vintage season for the French, who set the tone in the spring by winning a British Classic with Natagora, and have now ended up utterly dominating the climax of their home season.

The siblings Criquette Head-Maarek and Freddie Head won three Group One prizes between them on Sunday's undercard. Not even Aidan O'Brien could get involved, and the relentless pace he has set all season is palpably beginning to ebb. Though the Germans managed a winner, and the Hungarians deserved one, the French have never been so formidable since the decision to integrate all their biggest autumn prizes into Arc weekend.

The solitary British success came from Paco Boy, who beat Natagora by three lengths in the Prix de la Forêt on Saturday's card. Though seven furlongs clearly suits him, he might well be as effective over the sharp mile at the Breeders' Cup. But yesterday Richard Hannon discounted the idea of paying the big fee to qualify Paco Boy for Santa Anita.

"I don't think he'd want to go round there on very firm ground," he said. "Next year he will stay a mile well. He's only three and there's no doubt that he is getting better."

Sadly, we seem destined never to learn whether the same might still be true of Zarkava.

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