Trainers no longer in thrall to Ascot showpiece

By Ian Carnaby

The King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes is one of my favourite races and I have many fond memories of the last Saturday in July.

People of a certain age still talk about the Grundy-Bustino confrontation in 1975 but there was also Dahlia, successful as a three and four-year old immediately before that epic encounter, and Brigadier Gerard, who finally took the step into unknown territory over a mile and a half in 1972 and continued his magnificent run. The mare Time Charter cannot be compared to those great names but she was one of my favourite horses and I suppose I shall always remember her 1983 triumph because that was the day the old Sporting Chronicle closed down.

It is invariably a mistake to assume that tradition will always prevail. If Major Dick Hern were still alive, he would be appalled by the absence of three-year olds from the King George for the last three years. To this dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist, the King George was there so that the Derby winner could strut his stuff (not that Dick would have put it quite like that) against the younger generation. He won the great race five times, three of the victories going to three-year olds - Troy, Petoski and Nashwan, of whom two were Derby winners. The whole point of the race was to test Classic form against the best the older generation had to offer.

The Ascot executive was not unduly alarmed by the defection of the younger age group again this year, though there will be consultations with the BHA to decide whether the weight-for-age scale works at the highest level in late July. Frankly, the disappointing fall-off in three-year old participation has been going on for quite a while: Doyen in 2004 and Azamour in 2005 beat fields with only one member of the Classic generation taking part, and both finished unplaced.

There are more attractive opportunities for three-year-olds elsewhere

There can be only three reasons for the way things have gone. One, weight as mentioned above. But if 12lb is not enough, we are into fairly cloudy waters when it comes to analysis. Petoski might not have been the very best three-year old around in 1985, but he beat subsequent Arc winner Rainbow Quest into third, taking full advantage of the 13lb he received from the four-year old. There are countless similar examples from that not-so-distant era.

Two, the crowded summer schedule and/or more attractive opportunities elsewhere.
To me, this seems closer to the heart of the matter. The ‘crowded’ part doesn’t work, and references to the Arc itself, still more than two months away, are largely irrelevant. This year, the Irish Derby took place a month before the King George. It was a controversial race, some would say a rough race, but the chief sufferer when Alessandro Volta veered left was Curtain Call. Lo and behold, both of them turned out in the Grand Prix de Paris no more than a fortnight later. The reason for that can only be that Luca Cumani, in particular, was anxious to keep Curtain Call in races confined to his own age group. It didn’t work, of course, and we now know that the winner, Montmartre, might well be superior to anything in the King George field, but there is no point in making points with the benefit of hindsight. When they hold their discussions, the powers that be should involve Cumani, who is one of the clearest thinkers on the British turf.

Three, the sheer strength in depth of the Aidan O’Brien operation. With access to the two most influential stallions of present times, and an arsenal of talent which means he can field a King George favourite without turning to his Classic contenders, O’Brien quite possibly has people running scared. It is truly extraordinary that a horse like Duke Of Marmalade, untried over a mile and half, was quoted at odds-on almost as soon as the bookmakers opened up for serious business. Win or lose, he is very poor value and the old-time professional backers would certainly have been looking elsewhere.

Of course, Ascot have been unlucky this year with individual cases. Whilst we cannot be sure how Jim Bolger would have reacted - and we can never be sure about that - Sheikh Mohammed would surely have relished a tilt at the older horses with New Approach if the Derby winner had recovered from the setback which cost him his place in the Curragh line-up. And Sir Michael Stoute had nothing to lose by running Tartan Bearer, though he had a hard time of it in the Irish Derby only three weeks after his Epsom exertions. Stoute relied on two older horses instead, both of them with something to find.

But there will always be examples like this and the Ascot executive will not be foolish enough to rely on them. A more profitable exercise would be to print out the Irish Derby result and check all the quotes afterwards. The King George was never mentioned by anybody from start to finish. It is hard to believe that this famous old race, a jewel in the crown of the British season when de Beers sponsored (perhaps they knew something….) is rapidly becoming just another Group One event. Something must be done, and quickly.