Picture: Sky Sports THE defection of Golden Horn robbed the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes of much of its lustre. However, I think it was the right decision. He may still have won but a hard race may have bottomed him out and taken the edge off him. With so many good targets still to aim for, Golden Horn still has the pantheon of greatness within his reach. It would be marvellous to see him go through his career unbeaten and go out on a high in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October for which he is generally second favourite behind Treve.
But the King George did throw up a couple of live outsiders for Paris. The victory of Postponed proved that he definitely handles soft ground (although being by Dubawi that was no surprise) and Luca Cumani suddenly has the option of the Arc for his improving four-year-old as the great race is often run in testing conditions. Eagle Top also handled the rain-softened ground well and may be deemed slightly unlucky on Saturday as he had to run quite wide into the straight.
Bookies introduced Postponed into the Arc market at around 20/1 while, not surprisingly, Eagle Top is a similar price. With three-year-olds not having the best record in the race both Postponed and Eagle Top do not look bad each-way punts for Longchamp.
Postponed was an impressive winner of the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York last season. He was then put away for the rest of 2014 and the King George had always been his summer target. He started the season over a mile-and-a-quarter by finishing second behind Western Hymn in the Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown before being a close-up third to Al Kazeem in the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh.
Owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum has already confirmed that Postponed will stay in training next season, with Cumani now set to prepare the colt for a trip to Longchamp in early October.
Cumani said: “I would have thought that the natural progression is the Arc, which is another big challenge taking on Treve, Jack Hobbs and Golden Horn, but he is a King George winner so he won’t be going back to Catterick.”
In the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe market, Treve is generally a 9/4 favourite to complete a remarkable Arc hat-trick while Golen Horn is 3/1 and Jack Hobbs around 7/1. Others to catch the eye include Free Eagle (12/1), New bay (10/1) and The Grey Gatsby (25s).
Hi Jason,
You can tell i’m no journalist. Part of “wot I ‘av rit is rong” if you see what I mean.
In paragraph four, the third sentence should read as follows: If Golden Horn had run, and lost, on Saturday, then come out again and won before being retired, would his reputation have suffered?
If you can edit it, I would be grateful, otherwise just please add this.
All the best.
Cheers!
Hi Jason,
First let me state that Saturday’s King George was visually brilliant, everything that you would want to see in a horse race. However, the star act was missing. In fact the only Group 1 winner in the field was Madame Chiang, who won her Group 1 in heavy ground at Ascot last back end.
For all intents and purposes, what we had on offer was a good Group 2 race. Postponed though, was a worthy winner, just battling back to beat Eagle Top, who failed to maintain his advantage after looking the likely winner when heading Postponed inside the last furlong. I’m afraid i don’t subscribe to the view that he was unlucky. He had every chance, but wasn’t good enough. Plenty of King George winners have come wide down the short Ascot straight. Most memorable for me was Dahlia in 1973, deliberately held up in last place by Bill Pyers, until the turn in. She then powered down the centre of the track to beat future Arc winner Rheingold in a canter by six lengths, after hitting the front at the furlong pole.
I still do not understand the excuse given for the withdrawal of Golden Horn. Although the ground around Swinley Bottom was soft, the rest of the course was described by jockeys as tacky. Indeed, the time for the race was not slow, best illustrated by the fact that there have been thirty three slower winners of this race since – and including – Tulyar in 1952. Included in the “slows” are such luminaries as Mill Reef, Nijinsky, Busted, and Nashwan.
You say that it would be marvelous to see Golden Horn retire unbeaten. In truth I think that is the root of the problem. What does it matter if he is beaten once or twice? If Golden Horn had run and won, on Saturday, and been retired without racing again, would his reputation have suffered? I don’t think so. To be called a true champion, horses have to be campaigned against the best. Does anybody think any the less of Sea Bird, Brigadier Gerard, Mill Reef, Nijinsky, Sea The Stars, and in America, Triple Crown winners Secretariat, Affirmed and Seattle Slew when they had the occasional defeat, of course not.
I assume that if the going comes up soft or heavy, then Golden Horn will sidestep York, and possibly the Curragh too. That just leaves the Arc. The going at Longchamps in October is often on the soft side, whilst at Ascot a pair of oars has been prerequisite kit on plenty of occasions for this meeting, and its forerunner,the Diadem meeting. Is it possible that we have seen the last of him, subject to the vagaries of the European weather? Very possible, but I hope to be proved wrong.
In an email that I sent to “Sunday Forum” yesterday I referred to the French stewards decision, back in 1958, to bar future runners from Vincent O’Brien if he withdrew Ballymoss from the Arc because of the heavy going. Vincent ran Ballymoss and he won like a champion by three lengths. Likewise, when Paul Mellon decided that Mill Reef should run on heavy ground in the Gimcrack, he was rewarded with a ten length victory.
I obviously understand that if the going is considered dangerous, or harmful to the horse, then withdrawal is commonsense.
It is noticeable that the only group not mentioned are the people that pay racing’s wages, I mean the tens of thousands that went to Ascot on Saturday to see the Derby winner, and were disappointed.
Meanwhile, I see another fragile flower, Gleneagles, is to miss the Sussex Stakes because of the rain. At least this establishes one thing. Gleneagles may be faster (Aiden O’Brien quote) than Giant’s Causeway, but he ain’t as tough.
Cheers!