WEEKEND PREVIEWS:IT IS seven years since the last three-year-old winner of the King George VI Queen Elizabeth Stakes but a mouth-watering clash of the Derby winners, Workforce and Cape Blanco, could end that losing streak at Ascot today.
Although both representatives of the classic generation are faced by just four older horses in the £1 million (€1.2 million) spectacular, today’s race is a definite hark back to what the King George was originally designed to be when it began in 1951.
Great three-year-olds like Nijinsky, Dancing Brave and Shergar feature on the roll-of-honour alongside four-year-olds such as Ribot, Brigadier Gerard and Montjeu in what for decades was Britain’s definitive clash of the generations.
That that certainty faded in the “noughties” was due to multiple reasons, not least of which is the continuing rise of the Arc de Triomphe as Europe’s ultimate all-aged prize.
But of those at the top of the current ante-post Arc betting, only Fame And Glory is absent today and despite that, the older brigade are led this afternoon by the serious contenders, Harbinger, Daryakana and the enigmatic Youmzain. Dar Re Mi misses the race due to a bruised foot.
Youmzain finished runner-up to Dylan Thomas in the King George all of three years ago, and was third in 2008. But most attention today is bound to centre on old rivals Workforce and Cape Blanco, who come here with the Epsom and Curragh Derbies respectively already under their belts.
Visually those classic successes could hardly have been more different. Workforce provoked comparisons with Shergar after a seven-length rout at Epsom which was impressive enough for his reputation to largely survive a series of subsequent lapses from those who finished behind him that have done the form little or no good.
Cape Blanco in contrast missed Epsom for Chantilly, where he ran deplorably, and it was subsequently a dour struggle for the chestnut to defeat his stable companions Midas Touch and Jan Vermeer at the Curragh.
What muddies the waters however is the memory of May’s Dante at York when Workforce might have had excuses but was still comprehensively beaten by Cape Blanco.
Aidan O’Brien is pursuing a fourth King George victory after Galileo (2001), Dylan Thomas (2007) and Duke Of Marmalade (2008) and his readiness to clash with Workforce again could be significant.
Cape Blanco is a famously un-flashy performer who does just enough and the fact that Johnny Murtagh is suspended for this afternoon’s task shouldn’t lessen the Irish colt’s chance with Colm O’Donoghue taking over in the hotseat.
“I’ve ridden in the King George but probably not on as high profile a ride. Cape Blanco is very uncomplicated and I can ride him any way I want,” the 29-year-old from Buttevant, Co Cork, said yesterday. “I’m sure I will go through the race in detail with Johnny.”
However the man undoubtedly going into the King George with the strongest hand is Michael Stoute, who will join Dick Hern and Saeed Bin Suroor on five wins in the race if either Workforce or Harbinger emerges best.
The latter is notably progressive but the reality is that he is unproven at Group One level, whereas his younger stable companion achieved a track record and an impressive official handicap mark when trotting up at Epsom.
Ryan Moore has picked Workforce who will have the assistance of a pacemaker in Confront, something that should also assist the perennial Group One performer Youmzain.
But the suspicion remains that if there is a true superstar in today’s field to take a place alongside the top King George winners of the past, it is Workforce.
O’Brien will also be represented in the Group Three Princess Margaret Stakes by the five-length Naas winner, Queen Of Spain, while Ireland’s top female riders, Nina Carberry and Katie Walsh, are in action in the Ascot opener, the Ladies Handicap.
Both Carberry and Walsh are set to travel to Carlisle tomorrow for another ladies race.
