RACING NEWS:WHATEVER ELSE Harbinger does in his career, an 11-length demolition of a quality field in the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday will forever be etched in the annals of Turf history.
Those turning up at the Berkshire venue daring to expect such a performance from one of the six runners would surely have been thinking it would come from the winner’s stablemate, Workforce.
But despite being sent off the 8 to 11 favourite the runaway Epsom Derby hero beat just one home in fifth – and that was his pacemaker Confront. The result was never in doubt and as soon as Olivier Peslier pressed the button a couple of furlongs out, the response was immediate and Harbinger went further and further clear.
Irish Derby winner Cape Blanco kept going for a distant second, a staggering 11 lengths away, but Workforce was left toiling as Harbinger blitzed the field in course-record time. William Hill slashed the Highclere Thoroughbred Racing-owned Harbinger to even-money favourite from 8 to for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October.
Michael Stoute, winning his fifth King George, added: “Olivier was just cantering, he travelled so well and he was looking good from a long way out. He has a great mind, he’s very good mentally, which helps you to develop him. It was a superb performance.
“We’ll take him home and see where we are. I always said we’d think about his autumn programme and work back from there. We’ll consider the Arc.”
On being told he was evens for the Arc, a race Stoute has yet to win, the trainer smiled: “Even-money is he? What a joke.”
Stoute said of Workforce: “Ryan (Moore) said he just didn’t switch off like he normally does and the ground was quick enough, it’s pretty fast out there. He’ll bounce back, he’s a young horse and that was only his fourth race. He’ll grow up and get tougher. I wouldn’t write him off.”
Memory’s formlines are starting to look better and better after Soraaya eclipsed Margot Did in the finish of the Princess Margaret Abu Dhabi Stakes.
Mick Channon, third with the gallant Youmzain in the King George (he now heads straight to the Arc), now has a dilemma, reflecting after the 3 to 1 success: “My normal route would be to go for the Lowther and then the Cheveley Park Stakes, but Ryan felt she would be better at seven furlongs now. That would mean another clash with Memory in the Moyglare Stakes, but we’re not frightened of taking her on again.”
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)