The Lion In Winter heading back to France for Prix Jacques Le Marois
Dropped markedly in trip to seven furlongs for the Prix Jean Prat, Aidan O'Brien's charge showed plenty of his old sparkle, beaten just a short neck and a short head into third by Woodshauna.
Speaking at Navan on Sunday, stable representative Chris Armstrong said: 'It was lovely to get him back on track after all the promise he showed last year.
'He has come out of the race (at Deauville) very well, and everyone is happy with him at home.
'He is going to go to the Jacques Le Marois next in Deauville. Obviously, it is going to be a fascinating race during the summer.
'In fairness, the horse adapted coming right back from a mile and a half to seven (furlongs) last week pretty quickly.
'Back up to a mile in the Jacques Le Marois should suit him.'
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Nijinsky was the only three-year-old in a field of six that included the previous year's Derby winner, Blakeney, and Coronation Cup winner Caliban. Caliban provided the early pace, but it was soon apparent that Nijinsky was in a different league. He cruised past his rivals on the bridle and left Blakeney for dead. Lester Piggott could not have had an easier winner. MILL REEF (1971) Trained by Ian Balding, Mill Reef won six Group Ones in a row. That sequence began with the Derby, and he lined up for the King George as the 8-13 favourite, having taken the Eclipse in the interim. Ridden by Geoff Lewis, he was nicely settled in third as they entered the straight. He pulled to the front a furlong from home and ran away to win by six lengths. He sealed a brilliant year by routing a top-class Arc field by three lengths. He won the Prix Ganay and Coronation Cup as a four-year-old, but sadly injury curtailed his career soon afterwards and the great rematch with Brigadier Gerard never happened. GRUNDY (1975) To many, this really was 'the race of the century'. The clash of the generations pitted the Derby winner, Grundy, against Bustino, winner of the 1974 St Leger. Two pacemakers were thrown in by Bustino's trainer, Dick Hern, and they set up the race nicely for an epic duel in the final half-mile. Bustino was clear by three into the home straight, but Grundy was gradually eating into his lead. They fought all the way to the line and Grundy looked beaten at one stage. Yet he dug deep and just prevailed in a never-to-be forgotten finish. We must not forget also that the brilliant dual-winner Dahlia was a distant third. Such was the courage both horses had to show that not only did the race-record time stand until Harbinger in 2010, but neither managed to win again. SHERGAR (1981) Shergar is famous for being kidnapped and for winning the Derby by 10 lengths, and it is easy to forget that the legendary colt also won the Irish Derby and the King George in a memorable summer. He was a warm favourite to beat the older generation at Ascot. A surprisingly slow pace was set and initially the Aga Khan-owned colt was boxed in. But as the field straightened for home, Light Cavalry came off the rails and Walter Swinburn seized the opportunity to take the 2-5 favourite through the gap in style. The race was settled with two furlongs to run; he drew away to win decisively by four lengths from Madam Gay. PETOSKI (1985) The 1985 renewal was billed as the clash of the sexes between Henry Cecil's Oaks victor, Oh So Sharp, and Vincent O'Brien's Irish Derby winner, Law Society. However, it was Willie Carson on Petoski who caused the upset. In victory, he also brought an end to Oh So Sharp's unbeaten run, which also included the 1000 Guineas. Steve Cauthen blamed the very fast ground at Ascot and interference by Infantry two furlongs out for the great filly's defeat. 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Trained by Major Dick Hern, he remains the only horse to have won the 2000 Guineas, Derby, Eclipse and King George in one season. It was a slow gallop for the seven-runner field in the King George, which soon developed into a tactical affair as Willie Carson sat and waited on Nashwan. It was not until the last two furlongs that the race truly developed, with Nashwan the first to commit, and he was soon joined by the Derby third, Cacoethes. They were locked together inside the final furlong and in a pulsating finish Nashwan showed he had the courage to match his undoubted class as he got home in front. MONTJEU (2000) Michael Tabor's Montjeu was undoubtedly the easiest winner of the King George for many a year. The 1999 Arc de Triomphe winner only had six rivals to beat, as the Classic generation stayed away. In truth, it was a sub-standard renewal – but it was never meant to be a walkover. However, it felt like one. Sent off at 1-3 – the shortest-priced favourite since Nashwan – he had 11lb plus in hand on official figures. Michael Kinane sat patiently on the colt, and when asked to quicken two furlongs out, the horse cruised home stylishly. Kinane did not need to do much; the horse guided him home that day. HARBINGER (2010) Harbinger was an impressive winner of the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot but went to another level in the King George, where he produced a stunning performance to win by 11 lengths in a time bettering the one set by Grundy. Confront performed his duties as pacemaker for his stablemates Workforce and Harbinger and led until the home turn, at which point Epsom Derby hero Workforce and Irish Derby winner Cape Blanco tried to assert their authority. But they were merely sitting ducks for Olivier Peslier and Harbinger as they effortlessly took up the running inside the final two furlongs and rocketed clear. The handicapper raised him to from 123 to 135, making him the best in the world at the time but his career was cruelly cut short the following month when he shattered a cannon-bone in a routine spin on the gallops in Newmarket. In the wake of his retirement, Sir Michael Stoute was asked how much further Harbinger could have gone. 'Who knows?,' he wondered. 'If he had kept at that plateau, we'd have had a world champion.' ENABLE (2019) The only three-time winner of the race, Enable hacked up from Ulysses in 2017 and completed her hat-trick in a substandard three-runner heat in 2020, but her middle victory was the stuff of legend. Having already bagged the Eclipse on her return to action, Enable was sent off the 8-15 favourite to regain her Ascot crown with injury preventing a title defence in 2018. Crystal Ocean had finished runner-up to Poet's Word in her absence and the race was widely expected to boil down to a duel between the top older horses. Few could have expected such an epic finish though, as the pair went toe-to-toe for the best part of two furlongs, with Crystal Ocean finding generously when it looked as though Enable would go on. It was nip and tuck all the way, but Enable just poked her head in front on the line to triumph by a neck, with future Arc winner Waldgeist just under two lengths back in third, with a further seven lengths back to the next home in what was a race for the ages.
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6 hours ago
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Ahmed's 13-144 helps leaders Leics thump Derbyshire
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7 hours ago
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Fifty years on, remembering Grundy and Bustino – the race of the century
Never before had two horses given such a performance on the equine stage. No quarter was asked and none was given in an unforgettable renewal of the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on July 26, 1975. Showdowns have a habit of ending in anti-climax, but this really did live up to the hype. It began, as such races do, as the annual clash of the generations. In one corner there was the triple Classic winner Grundy and in the other the previous year's St Leger hero, Bustino. A heavyweight slug fest between two titans at the peak of their powers. Respected racing pundit Jim McGrath was in the very early stages of his Timeform career when he took a break from glueing together racecards to sit down at home to watch the highly-anticipated clash. And he remembers a race that had all the hallmarks of a timeless classic and one that remains etched in racing folklore half a century later. McGrath said: 'What makes a great King George is a top-class three-year-old running against a top-class four-year-old so you had all the ingredients and when you bear in mind the past dual winner Dahlia was also in the field, you had everything set up nicely. 'The race whetted the appetite as Bustino was one of the best horses of the previous year and won the St Leger among other races and he went into Ascot having broken the track record at Epsom in the Coronation Cup. 'He was a good horse and as a Leger winner had proven stamina and although Grundy had won the Derby and Irish Derby, I think Dick Hern's camp felt they might be able to outstay him if they went a blazing gallop.' After a disappointing spring for Grundy which saw Peter Walwyn's colt beaten in the 'stable lads' 2,000 Guineas, his star had fully risen by the time he was due to take on his elder in Berkshire. Both horses had strutted their stuff in impressive style at Epsom, Grundy taking the Derby in imperious fashion and the Dick Hern-trained Bustino the Coronation Cup in record time. But that was only part of the story as the Bustino camp's quest to ensure a breakneck pace to aid their relentless galloper was dealt a blow when Bustino's chief Epsom assistant Riboson was unable to join Kinglet and Highest in the line-up. McGrath recalls: 'Dick Hern ran two pacemakers, but they had a pretty good horse who used to lead him called Riboson and he made the pace in the Coronation Cup but had got an injury and couldn't take part, so they used the other two horses. 'Grundy was a wonderful horse and his story takes almost a year's cycle as 51 years ago he started his career at Ascot in July 1974 by winning a race called the Granville Stakes for two-year-olds. 'He had gone through the two-year-old season unbeaten, winning several races, including the Dewhurst, but at the beginning of his three-year-old he got kicked in the face by one of his stable companions at home and had a chequered preparation. 'It was also a spring where it was very very wet and he got beat by Mark Anthony in the Greenham, which was a shock, and then he was beat in the 2000 Guineas. There were no excuses for Grundy despite what you might read and Bolkonski who beat him was a very good horse in his own right and went on to win the Sussex Stakes. 'But Grundy went on to win the Irish 2,000 Guineas, the Derby and the Irish Derby and then he came to Ascot and it made for a blistering race.' Grundy, the 4-5 favourite, and Bustino (4-1), may have grabbed all the pre-race attention but it was not just a two-horse race as the 11 runners included other equine stars such as Dahlia, successful in the two previous renewals, and Star Appeal, winner of that year's Eclipse and later the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The script went slightly awry for the Hern team when Bustino was the first out of the stalls, but Highest soon went on and set off like a startled hare with stablemates Kinglet and Bustino on his tail. Kinglet had to take over but he too was a spent force much earlier than had been the plan, leaving Mercer with no alternative but to kick on half a mile from home. By the final turn, Bustino was four lengths clear. Pat Eddery was forced to go after Grundy harder than he had ever done before and the younger horse responded as only a champion could. With a tough final furlong left, Grundy had whittled away the deficit and with the rest of a strong field toiling, the big two settling down to a street fight. It was impossible to predict who would prevail until Bustino gave best 50 yards from the line allowing Grundy to gain the verdict by half a length as they ripped the course record apart by 2.36 seconds. Dahlia was five lengths away in third place. The two war horses had given their all in what was a truly memorable contest for which they will always be remembered. McGrath said: 'They broke the track record by 2.3 seconds, absolutely shattered it. It was set up to be a great race, and it turned out to be a great race and both horses gave everything. 'The ground was really firm and it was real, fast summer ground by that time of the year. They both gave everything and Bustino went down narrowly. 'Joe Mercer later recalled that he felt if the pacemakers had led him along a little bit longer he might have just won and you always look for minor things when you have just been beaten in a tight finish. 'If you watch a replay of the race you can see right on the line that Bustino falters slightly and he never ran again – in fact I think he only ever cantered again once. 'Grundy only ran once more and went to York for what was then the Benson and Hedges and what we would call now the Juddmonte International. He just ran a really flat race and Dahlia won it.' The Grundy-Bustino clash remains the benchmark to which future King Georges have been judged. There have been many spectacular renditions of Ascot's midsummer feature in recent times, but McGrath is in doubt the race takes on an extra dimension when there is one special element to it – just like when Grundy and Bustino went head to head five decades ago. 'The Enable one was good, and Adayar beating Mishriff and Love. Then there was Galileo and Fantastic Light who had a tremendous duel in 2001 where Galileo came out on top and then they renewed rivalry in the Irish Champion Stakes and had another wonderful battle. 'But essentially what sets the race up perfectly – which you haven't got this year – is when a Classic three-year-old goes up against a top-class older horse. That is what the race was designed for when it was inaugurated and is what it produces from time to time. 'We've got a very interesting contest this time around, but we haven't got what I would say is that extra ingredient that makes the race a must see.'
