Michael Tabor may have summed up with admirable simplicity the story of what had looked a fiendish Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby, G1) beforehand, when he pointed to the fact that, in Camille Pissarro, Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore, he and the Coolmore partners had "the best horse, the best trainer and the best jockey".
It certainly required some magic from Moore to hold on to Camille Pissarro until deep in the straight before unleashing his superior finish, with his right boot hard up against the rail, threading the narrowest of passages.
The son of Wootton Bassett repaid his jockey's faith with an unrelenting final burst, taking the measure of the prominently ridden Cualificar and Detain by a half-length and a neck.
"Ryan was delighted when he saw the draw (in stall one)," said O'Brien, who was saddling his second Jockey Club winner, four years after St Mark's Basilica. "He's a top horse and Ryan gave him a masterclass, putting him to sleep and then producing him very late.
"Like Ryan said, he had the horse to quicken through but he gave him a masterclass. He's very exciting because he's a top group 1 winner at 2 and now he's a French Derby winner and we know how important French Derby winners are."
Moore was as keen as ever to deflect praise and instead pointed to the role Christophe Soumillon had played in developing Camille Pissarro, always highly regarded at Ballydoyle but without a group win to his name until the ten-time champion of France guided him victory in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (G1) in his last start at two.
Moore said: "He's always been a very good-looking horse. He was highly thought of early on and he ran in the Coventry. I just wasn't getting him quite right and Christophe showed me how to ride him. He recommended he would go over this distance and it all worked out beautifully.
"I thought we had a lovely stall. He began nicely and relaxed into a lovely rhythm and I was able to make ground smoothly from halfway.
"We got quite strung out and the pace wasn't mad. It was very smooth and I just had to show a bit of patience and wait for a run to present itself. I had plenty of horse and he took it very well. It was a very smart performance from a horse who just seems to be getting better."
The coin had landed the other way up for Camille Pissarro in terms of a wide draw in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains (G1), in which he and Soumillon were a fast-finishing third to Henri Matisse.
O'Brien was in no rush to nominate future targets for Camille Pissarro, who was cut to 8-1 (from 20) by the sponsors for the Coral-Eclipse (G1).
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