Aidan O'Brien in awe of Ryan Moore's brilliance after Delacroix beats Ombudsman to win Coral Eclipse

Aidan O'Brien couldn't believe it nor could Michael Tabor. They thought Delacroix had an outstanding chance of winning the Coral Eclipse but, after 100 head spinning yards, the leading trainer and influential owner thought all hope had gone.

Enter Ryan Moore. When Plan A and B never worked and Plan C went to pot, the world's best jockey delved into his box of tricks to find Plan D and the result was a quite astonishing finish to a race that is stepped in history and will forever be regarded as one of the midsummer highlights.

With 500 yards of the mile-and-a-quarter event at Sandown, the race that brings three-year-olds together with their elders for the first time at Championship level, a win for Delacroix looked the most unlikely possibility, particularly as favourite Ombudsman was travelling sweetly.

But then Moore got to work, pushing away and getting the kind of withering response that enabled Delacroix – who had been sent-off favourite for the Betfred Derby at Epsom four weeks ago – to pip Ombudsman on the line. The roars of a bumper crowd confirmed they had been royally entertained.

This was a magnificent spectacle, the kind you want to see of a Saturday afternoon, and O'Brien – who was winning the Eclipse for the ninth time, 25 years after his first with Giant's Causeway – was in no doubt where the credit should go.

'Ryan gave him a brilliant ride,' said O'Brien. 'I thought he was going to make the running, then he found himself last. Ryan kept calm about it all and had one go at Ombudsman. When you have some riding like that, with that power and confidence, it is incredible.'

Moore, like O'Brien, has won this race – which was celebrating its 50th anniversary of Coral sponsorship and was worth £1million – five times, starting with Notnowcato in 2007 when he outfoxed his rivals with an audacious and daring plot to run on his own up the stand side rail.

That lives long in the memory and this one will, too. When you watched the replay and the purple silks of Delacroix got shuffled back due Christophe Soumillion on O'Brien's other runner, Camille Pissarro, closing a door, you immediately thought all hope was gone.

Ombudsman, who had produced one of the finest performances at Royal Ascot in the Prince Of Wales Stakes, looked to have things in control but, suddenly, Moore's arms went into overdrive, Delacroix's stride inexorably lengthened and, as the crowd roared, the line arrived in time.

'It was mind-blowing to make up that ground from where he came from,' O'Brien continued, breathlessly. 'I thought Ryan was going to make the running but obviously you don't tell him what to do. I didn't know what to make of it when I saw it all changing.

'To have somebody riding with the power and confidence he has. Ryan said he had to change the plan four times during the race. There was so much happening in the race but Ryan remained calm, collected and clinical. Was it one of his best rides? I'd say it was.'

And here is a crucial point. Some people are jaded about Moore and O'Brien plundering big races but things must be looked at through a different prism: you are witnessing history, a partnership that might eventually be remembered as the best there has ever been in racing.

Moore, at present, is on a plane like Scottie Scheffler or Mohamed Salah or Max Verstappen, all sportsmen doing incredible things when the stakes are at their highest. Without him pulling a rabbit from his hat, John and Thady Gosden's marvellous run of success would have continued.

'I did warn people before it could be a messy race and I was correct,' said Gosden senior, taking defeat on the chin. 'The French horse (Sosie) sat handy and we thought Delacroix may go forward too, but then it was all the other way round.

'That happens in a small field and it didn't turn out the way we thought. But he's run a wonderful race. He was trapped rather wide and got close to the pace. The others that were up there were out the back and Delacroix has run us down late.

'It was one of those where you get a small, messy race, but full marks to the winner. He outstayed the lot of them and in the end it was down to stamina.'

Not according to Moore, who felt speed won the day. It did make a difference – but not as much as the man in the saddle.