Connections of Erupt believe they may be able to provide the first French-trained winner of the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes for 10 years but fear Saturday’s race could become a tactically messy affair. A field of only seven horses was declared at the final entry stage on Thursday and there are no definite front-runners among them, a fact that has not escaped Alan Cooper, the racing manager to the Niarchos family, owners of Erupt.
“I’ve been sitting here trying to work that out,” Cooper said, when asked where he thought the pace might come from, “and I didn’t come up with an answer. Seven-runner races can be … interesting.”
He noted that, although Erupt has generally been held up, the colt made almost all the running to land a Group Three last summer, showing a tactical versatility that could be most useful at Ascot. “But this race is obviously at a different level. We’ll have to discuss our tactics nearer the time.”
Pace would not have been a concern had last year’s winner, Postponed, been fit to take part, as he had a pacemaker entered alongside him early in the week. But Postponed was found to have a respiratory infection on Wednesday and dropped out, taking his pacemaker with him.
Dartmouth, the 5-2 favourite, made all the running to win at Chester in May but nearly got run down close home and connections are likely to favour the more conservative tactics that helped him win at Royal Ascot last time. Aidan O’Brien’s Highland Reel has not set the pace in his last two starts but can be dangerous if gifted an easy lead and won the Secretariat in the US last summer in those circumstances.
Cooper describes Erupt as having “a good turn of foot” and believes the four-year-old should at least be competitive on Saturday. Trained near Chantilly by Francis-Henri Graffard, he was an impressive winner of the Grand Prix de Paris last July and there have been one or two excuses for subsequent defeats.
“He takes a bit of getting fit, we learned that about him in the Niel,” Cooper said, referring to the Arc trial in which Erupt was a distant fourth. He got much closer in the Arc itself, being beaten less than four lengths, a stride behind Treve.
His reappearance run, on bad ground over too short a distance in the Ispahan, was a non-event for Erupt, who was tailed off, but he showed the benefit of it when a running-on second in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud three weeks ago. “Stéphane Pasquier says he feels stronger this year,” Cooper reported. “He’s filled out and he’s slightly more imposing. He’s our first Dubawi, so it’s a bit of a learning curve for us. They take a bit of work, you can’t just put them away and bring them out again at short notice.
“We haven’t got a real direct form line with most of the runners but, on the Arc form, I think we should be competitive. Dartmouth is an improving horse and Highland Reel is a tough globetrotter.”
Erupt, a 5-1 shot, would be the first King George winner to carry the famous blue and white Niarchos colours. Bago was a close third in 2005 while Law Society was fourth in a hot renewal 20 years before that, behind Petoski, Oh So Sharp and Rainbow Quest.
Frankie Dettori, who is now only seven short of his 3,000th career winner, mused on his King George chance between races at Sandown yesterday. He said his mount, the Derby fourth, Wings Of Desire, “seems in good shape, but he is so lazy at home, it’s hard to judge how good he is. I thought the Derby came a bit too soon for him. He just got in a muddle round Epsom and Ascot should suit him better.”
