She is the filly whose performances this season have reduced grown men to tears, caused the UAE Minister of Finance to travel to England to witness her majesty and will have a global audience of one billion watching to see whether she can overcome 19 rivals to win Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

In sight of the Eiffel Tower, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid’s Taghrooda will sashay down the lush green catwalk of Longchamp in what, win or lose, will be her swansong as the paddocks beckon.

She has carried Sheikh Hamdan’s season and helped propel him to what is almost certainly a sixth owners’ title in Britain. Her victory in the English Oaks elevated Sheikh Hamdan back in to the VIP lounge reserved for European Classic-winning owners after a hiatus of four years.

Her crushing success in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot in July placed her in the record books as the first three-year-old filly since the mid-1970s to beat the boys there.

Yet, as Sheikh Hamdan’s team prepare for the final surge for the summit, her midsummer momentum may have picked up a russet tinge.

Down the long straight of the Knavesmire at York in August she was bested by Tapestry in a lung-busting drive to the line in the Yorkshire Oaks.

There was seven lengths back to the third, suggesting that both fillies ran their races.

The following day Taghrooda was found to have been in season but, whatever happened down that long straight, her regular rider Paul Hanagan had been simply outmanoeuvred by Ryan Moore.

Moore conserved energy on Tapestry to such an extent that she was officially the fastest filly in the race in the final 600 metres of the 2,400-metre event.

It sounds basic, but Hanagan had Taghrooda going faster than anything just after the middle part of the race, which meant she had little left at the finish.

Hanagan has the opportunity to make good, but it will be his first experience of what can often be a hurly-burly event.

At Friday’s post position draw at Longchamp Taghrooda was placed in gate 14. A wide draw in the Arc is not insurmountable, but her task to deliver Sheikh Hamdan a first Arc has been made far harder.

Taghrooda raced in the middle of the pack at Epsom when she won the Oaks, whereas at Ascot and York she was held up out the back. At Epsom there were 17 runners, whereas in her subsequent two races there were only eight and seven.

There is little pace in the Arc this year and Elie Lellouche, trainer of the unbeaten three-year-old colt Ectot, who runs for Qatar’s Al Shaqab, also saddles Montviron, a pacemaker.

Frankie Dettori successfully rode Ruler Of The World from the front on Arc Trials day last month in the Prix Foy and the Italian has pledged to be in the vanguard throughout the early stages. But that is it.

Hanagan, therefore, faces a tricky choice. If he holds up Taghrooda from her wide draw he will have to cede valuable ground. He must then come through the pack alongside Ectot, Harp Star, one of three Japanese raiders, and Avenir Certain, the unbeaten French filly, in Longchamp’s short straight of 400 metres.

Treve, the defending champion, also likes to be held up, as does Kingston Hill, the English St Leger winner who races from gate 20.

If Hanagan chooses to be more prominent he faces a battle to secure a good position, which will again use up valuable energy reserves early in the race.

Then there are the sands of time. Taghrooda has been on the go since she first routed a field of moderate fillies in the Pretty Polly Stakes in May. The Arc is clearly a young horse’s game and the younger the better it seems.

Of the past 20 winners 16 have been three year olds. Delve a little deeper and it is those hitting a crescendo, rather withering away in diminuendo, who take the bold step into the Parisian limelight.

Of those 16 successful three year olds only Helissio in 1996 was foaled in January. The rest were born much later with the last seven, going back to Hurricane Run in 2005, born on March 14 or later. Both Taghrooda and Tapestry were foaled in January 2011.

The other two fillies from the Classic generation in the Arc include Harp Star, whose birthday is April 24, and Avenir Certain, who entered the world six days later. Their improvement is likely to be the greater.

Taghrooda’s breeding suggests that she has the constitution to deliver. She is by Sea The Stars, whose blend of speed and stamina was such that he overcame significant traffic issues to claim his sixth win at the highest level in as many months in 2009.

Taghrooda’s reputation will lose little lustre if she is defeated in Paris. Her work on the racecourse is done and she is likely to prove a top broodmare.

With horses such as Estidhkaar, Muhaarar and Muraaqaba Sheikh Hamdan also has ammunition enough with which to go to war in Europe next season at the highest level.

That is for another time, though. Taghrooda’s is now.