Rosallion and Sean Levey roar home to run down Henry Longfellow in St James's Palace Stakes

It's official: Rosallion is the outstanding three-year-old miler this season. Well, for the time being anyway, and you get the impression it will take something special to beat him again after his now trademark turn of foot nailed Henry Longfellow close home in a gripping St James's Palace Stakes that lived up to all its hype.

It was marketed as the race of the week – the English, Irish and French 2,000 Guineas winners in a classic three-way showdown. That three was reduced to two when the tempo really increased entering the final furlong and Notable Speech was left flat-footed, with William Buick reporting he "wasn't the horse we know from Newmarket".

Maybe not, but Rosallion looks a different animal now. Sean Levey trusts him and trusts his turn of foot. In the Irish Guineas at the Curragh, he was set quite a task but gobbled up the ground to catch stablemate Haatem. Here it was the real Henry Longfellow who got first run, not the one who floundered in France but the terrific two-year-old we saw last season.

Ryan Moore was always in the right place, kicked at the right time and did everything right on Henry Longfellow. He was just beaten by a very good horse, the star of the Flat season so far.

Moore was surprised he was beaten, as Aidan O'Brien admitted afterwards: "Ryan was surprised [by Rosallion] because he was quickening and ran through the line. He was surprised when the horse came and got him."

Henry Longfellow hit the line hard, but Rosallion hit it harder. He is the ultimate pro now and Richard Hannon hailed him "as good as he has ever seen" in his place. That is quite the statement when you consider the talent that he has seen there over the years.

Hannon has never hidden his admiration for the brilliant Blue Point colt and now we know why. He said: "Rosallion was special before today. Unfortunately, we lost in the Guineas, but he has always been brilliant, both physically and mentally.

"I couldn't believe he got beaten in the Guineas the way he was travelling that day. He went and won the Irish Guineas very well and he's the complete package. He's as good as I've ever seen in our place.

"Quite often you call these horses something that they're not, because you want them to be the best horse you've trained – and quite often you are disappointed. That's an occupational hazard. But this lad has never let me down. That one day at Doncaster, I still can't explain it. I don't know how we messed it up, but that's behind us now."

Rosallion was the third Hannon winner of the St James's Palace Stakes. His father won it with Canford Cliffs and Barney Roy scored in 2017. Neither of them won the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, but they kept progressing as the season went on and that's exactly what Rosallion is doing too.

The Sussex Stakes would seem a logical place to go next, and a clash with Charyn, so dominant in the Queen Anne, would be some spectacle.

Hannon said: "Rosallion is in the Sussex, he's in all those big races, and I can't wait. He has already done enough for me if he never does it again. It is not about being proved right either, it's about the work that goes into these horses from everybody at home. We've been watching him all winter, and this kind of horse makes it a shorter winter.

"This is about the only race I've won more often than my dad!" he laughed.

Rosallion (centre) fends off Henry Longfellow to win the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal AscotCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

While it looked as though Rosallion had his work cut out to collar Henry Longfellow, Levey was never worried. He knew what he had under him.

He said: "Once I had him out in the open, I always thought I would pick the leader up. This horse really has to have something to aim at, he showed that at the Curragh. As soon as I got him out, there was always going to be plenty in the tank.

"He had to be good today. He travelled so well, he picked up strong and was very tenacious to the line."

Rosallion was superb here, but Levey thinks he can be even better when he gets his proper conditions.

He explained: "I really hope that one day they go a really good gallop so we will get to see him show his true potential. At the moment, he's just showing how versatile he really is.

"I always said I always had great belief in the horse. I always hoped he would be that horse I've been waiting for all my career. People say to me, you remember the horse along with who rode it. It means the world to me, and everyone at home."

Levey was where Alexis Pouchin wanted to be on Metropolitan passing the two-furlong pole. The Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner had to wait to make his move as Rosallion swept by and, although he would only have been third anyway, he might have been a closer third.

Trainer Mario Baratti said: "I thought he was a little unlucky, he only started galloping in the last 200 metres when the gap appeared. Obviously it was too late and the other two horses had gone. But we've seen he has the level to run with the best."

The best at the moment is Rosallion. He has the yellow jersey in the three-year-old mile division and it is going to take something special from the peloton to take it off him.

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