Manduro added another string to his bow only days after he was officially acclaimed the world’s best racehorse. Untouchable over ten furlongs at Royal Ascot, the five-year-old toyed with some of Europe’s best milers when running away with the Prix du Haras de Fresnay-Le-Buffard Jacques le Marois here yesterday.

The best make it look easy and Manduro barely broke sweat. The handsome bay eased past his pacemaker two furlongs out before dispatching Holocene by three lengths, with Turtle Bow a further half-length third. Since the latter had finished much closer to Ramonti in the Queen Anne Stakes, Manduro laid a strong claim to the accolade of champion miler.

André Fabre, Manduro’s trainer, was plainly animated by the performance. He never flinched in his belief that a mile was within Manduro’s compass. Now, however, he will ask the horse a question to which he does not know the answer. Manduro steps up to 12 furlongs for the Prix Foy next month ahead of his bid for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

“There are a number of options later,” the trainer said, “but the Arc is his main objective. He was quite unlucky not to win the Moulin last year, so for me, speed was not a problem to-day. But stamina he has to prove. We will see at Longchamp.”

By Shirocco’s sire Monsun, Manduro has been a revelation since a string of near-misses last term. He has won four times from as many starts this season by an aggregate of more than 13 lengths. The King George winner, Dylan Thomas, heads a glittering cast of his victims.

Having blown away the opposition, Fabre now seems keen to test the horse against himself. Certainly no thoroughbred in the modern era has won a group one race over a mile in August while preparing for the Arc.

“For commercial reasons people like horses to stick to a mile,” Fabre said. “A lot of them are capable of racing over different distances. It is more fun to try it - especially with an older horse like this one. It is a lot easier training a five-year-old than a three-year-old, that’s for sure.”

Further lustre was added to Manduro’s triumph by an overzealous watering policy that had trainers complaining loudly on Saturday. The ground then was soft - despite no rain having fallen here since the meeting opened three weeks ago.

Manduro, of course, likes to hear his hooves rattle and, despite a drying day yesterday, the surface remained loose on top. Perhaps that is why Manduro drifted to his right throughout the final furlong - despite minimal urging from Stephane Pasquier, who has struck up a fine rapport with the horse.

Manduro evidently likes space around him and time to establish a rhythm that renders him destructive. It will be fascinating to see whether he can contrive that rhythm in 12-furlong races, when the early gallop is more sedate.

Punters certainly believe he is more than capable, since Manduro was well backed for the Arc both before and after yesterday’s race. Ladbrokes now quote him at 5-1 joint-favourite with Authorized; the latter received a boost of sorts yesterday when Eagle Mountain, who chased him home in the Derby, won in group three company at the Curragh.

Lawman, the French Derby winner who was expected to ruffle Manduro, disappointed badly in last place. Olivier Peslier reported the horse was flat and lifeless after two furlongs, which suggests that Lawman was off-colour. Either way, connections must be ruing their decision to decline a recent eight-figure offer for the horse.

The last word is best left to Fabre, who mentioned the Breeders’ Cup Classic as a possible port of call for Manduro. Asked what qualities a horse needed to perform on dirt, the 19-times French champion smiled and said: “Gas.” Manduro is not short of that.

The Rest of the World won the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup at Ascot on Saturday, beating Ireland by 20 points. Hugh Bowman was the leading individual rider with 37 points.