But a lot of credit must also go to the connections of Hartnell, who helped build the hype over the past three weeks, and whose decision to forego the Caulfield Cup in favour of a tilt at the superstar mare made the Cox Plate what it was, certainly in the lead up.

It was bad luck for Caulfield. Officials there are still angry that Caulfield Cup conditions mean the winner gets a Melbourne Cup penalty, unlike the winner of the Cox Plate – a key factor, they believe, for Hartnell to be switched from their big event to the epic contest at Moonee Valley.

Their frustration is understandable, but the reality is that Godolphin's decision to focus their international raider Scottish on the Caulfield Cup and target Hartnell at the Cox Plate really made the latter race.

The lead up to the Cox Plate was all about the match between Winx and Hartnell, "the big two", evoking comparisons with the 1986 "race of the century" between Bonecrusher and Our Waverley Star, and helped drive the narrative for a spring carnival overshadowed by the hangover of the football season and a seemingly never-ending trade period.

In the end it wasn't a match between the big-two, as Hartnell was soundly beaten. But he was best of the rest – although the manner of his defeat did take Godolphin officials aback even as one of their key figures, managing director Henry Plumptre, declared that Winx might be a level ahead of the rest.

"I have always had a sneaking suspicion that she's that good," he said. "We have watched her for a year and a half now and she hasn't been beaten. Our camp is disappointed to be beaten so far, but we have been beaten by an absolute champion.

"She is like Black Caviar. Every now and again Hay List would come up alongside and you would think, is this the day, and its not the day.

"We think our horse has run a terrific race, the boys have done wonderful preparation on him, we couldn't have been better going into the race, but it wasn't to be. He has run his heart out and hopefully he will pull up all right and go on to the Melbourne Cup.

"We weren't unlucky, we were just beaten by an absolute champion."

They were. But without credible opposition like Hartnell, that champion tag might sound hollow.

Now if the Melbourne Racing Club and the Victoria Racing Club can get agreement on changing the penalty clauses for the Caulfield Cup, who knows what might happen. Until they do, the Cox Plate is always likely to be the beneficiary.