Jockeys do not usually dispense beaming smiles as they return to weigh in after finishing seventh, but William Buick could not help himself after the first race here on Friday. “It’s very soft out there,” he said, as the rain that could transform Saturday’s the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes continued to fall. “Great for Romsdal.”
But not for Romsdal’s stablemate, Golden Horn. John Gosden, who had hoped to saddle three of the 10 runners in the most prestigious middle-distance event of the season at Ascot, will walk the course on Saturday morning before deciding whether to let the unbeaten Derby winner take his chance.
History beckons for Golden Horn if he goes to post, as he could become only the fourth horse to win the Derby, Eclipse and King George in the same season. With obvious alternatives at York and Leopardstown over the next six weeks, however, Gosden and Anthony Oppenheimer, Golden Horn’s owner, could easily decide to spare their colt a tough race on testing ground.
The rain started here at around 8am, and continued steadily for much of the afternoon as the official going description moved from good-to-firm (good in places) before the first race, to good, then good-to-soft and finally to soft after the second. Golden Horn won his maiden at Nottingham last October on good ground, and has raced on good-to-firm on his four starts since. He was a 1-2 chance to add another Group One success to his record before the rain appeared on the forecast, but the price against him even reaching the stalls increased every time the going changed.
“It’s riding good-to-soft,” Richard Hughes, who is due to ride Eagle Top, Gosden’s third declared runner, in the King George, said after the first race. “It’s not until you race on it a few times and dig some holes and the water gets into the holes, that’s when it’ll be soft. It all depends when it stops. If we have a dry morning, it might be all right.”
Gosden had two runners in the Listed feature event here but was not at the track to see his filly Solar Magic worn down close home by the favourite, Evita Peron. When he inspects the course on Saturday morning, he will do so in the knowledge that Golden Horn has answered every question that has been asked of him in his five-race career to date, and became the first three-year-old since Frankel to be rated 130 by the official handicapper when he was raised to that mark after winning the Eclipse Stakes earlier this month. That was his first start against older horses while Golden Horn also made the running in a small field, but he still produced his best performance to date, beating The Grey Gatsby, a dual Group One winner last season, by three-and-a-half lengths.
The fact that only three horses – Mill Reef, Nashwan and Tulyar – have previously completed the Derby-Eclipse-King George treble shows the scale of the achievement that is within Golden Horn’s grasp, and Gosden has said in the past that preserving his colt’s unbeaten status is not a priority, or even a significant consideration.
But both trainer and owner will appreciate the danger that, win or lose, a slog through soft Ascot ground, particularly the loop through Swinley Bottom that was not relaid when the new grandstand was built a decade ago, could shorten his racing career. Nashwan, the last horse to complete the elusive treble, was retired after losing his unbeaten record in the Prix Niel next time out. Victory on Saturday would continue Golden Horn’s advance into ever more exclusive company, but at what potential cost to his overall career? With so many valuable prizes still to come, why take an unnecessary risk in July?
The fourth favourite Flintshire, a proven fast-ground performer, was pulled out on Friday afternoon by trainer André Fabre but Romsdal, in contrast, has proven stamina, having finished second in last season’s St Leger, and backers who believe in omens will remember that the last King George run on testing ground produced a surprise result as Swain – who, like Romsdal, carried Godolphin’s royal blue colours – won at 16-1.
The changing ground does not favour only Romsdal, however, as the seven-year-old Clever Cookie, who started his career in National Hunt racing, has also shortened abruptly in the betting over the last 24 hours.
Peter Niven’s gelding was a 50-1 chance on Friday morning, but no bigger than 12-1 midway through Friday afternoon.
“Everyone tells me it’s been chucking it down, which is great,” Niven said on Friday. “That’s not to say Clever Cookie is a proper heavy-ground horse, but he might go through it better than some of the others.
“He has the Goodwood Cup entry next week and they’ll be getting the rain there as well, but I think we have to go for this now. He could be a 7-1 shot come Saturday afternoon.”
