Goliath shocks in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth (JTW Equine Images)
By JTW Equine Images
In the Bible, Goliath is the giant defeated by David.
But on a summer’s afternoon as Ascot, another Goliath became the giant, causing one of the biggest shocks in the history of the race by taking the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes in devastating fashion under the most ice cold of Belgians in Christophe Soumillon.
Sent off at odds of 25/1, he was effectively running all over his rivals, sweeping past Rebels Romance and Auguste Rodin as their petrol tanks ran empty, before applying the afterburners and seeing off Bluestocking by an eased down two and a half lengths at the line.
In the weeks leading up to the race, talk was on the lips of racegoers on which of the home or Irish team would prevail in the mid-summer highlight at Ascot.
Will Auguste Rodin turn up, and back up his Prince Of Wales Stakes win? Will the globetrotting Rebels’ Romance take a maiden Group 1 in the UK?
Will Bluestocking follow up her Pretty Polly Stakes victory and make it another for the fillies?
That may be, but they accidentally forgot about the French horse.
Before anyone could say “Sacre Bleu”, the raider from France was powering clear of his rivals and careering away over a furlong out to a memorable, incredible, and unbelievable victory, appearing as if chucked into the race as a fresh horse.
The course was stunned, an audible gasp floating across the Berkshire amphitheatre as the 25/1 chance followed up his fine second to the sidelined Isle Of Jura in the Hardwicke over course and distance the previous month at Royal Ascot.
It was a maiden top-flight victory for the charge of Francis-Henry Graffard, taking the scalps of 6 Group 1 winners in the process in scintillating fashion.
Many had perceived the form of that race to be pivotal to a horse’s chance for this race, except they chose the wrong horse to focus on in Middle Earth, who was never able to land a telling blow and was struggling some way out.
Instead, it was the runner-up that day who made the meteoric rise to Group 1 glory that day with a performance that even allowed his jockey to celebrate over half a furlong out from the line, Christophe saluting the crowd in a similar manner to Tom Scudamore in the 2016 King George aboard Thistlecrack.
Speaking to assembled media afterwards, his trainer admitted that he loved “winning like this”.
“I knew with a good pace my horse would be able to quicken. We came here to find a strong pace”, he detailed afterwards, noting on the perceived pace Hans Andersen had been enlisted by Aidan O’Brien to assist his battalion of entries.
The trainer must have felt a tinge of worry when seeing his charge’s price before the race, even given his heroic effort last time out.
“When I saw he was 25-1, I thought, ‘Oh my God, nobody believes in him!”
However, he had an ace up his sleeve in a talented rider to partner his gelding, Christophe Soumillon producing a masterful ride to guide his mount stealthily through the field just as the big guns began their charge for home.
As Rebel’s Romance, Luxembourg, and Auguste Rodin began to trade blows out of one another, they all too easily forgot about the French raider, who was effectively running all over them in behind.
With two furlongs to go Christophe took the brakes off and opened the throttle and his mount simply left his rivals trailing in his wake, with the nearest being the filly Bluestocking, but she was always behind and never close enough to land a telling blow.
With half a furlong to go, the manner of his victory was apparent, and Christophe began to salute the assembled crowd, blowing the audience a kiss as he crossed the line to seal a memorable victory aboard the son of the late Adlerflug.
Soumillon, who had won the race on Hurricane Run in 2006 declared that “ I had a chance to look at the big screen…… I saw I was two or three lengths clear”.
“I had to check I was not dreaming! It was like a dream, and when I asked him to go, he changed gear!”
He also reflected on the victory, and how it meant to him, now he is into the Autumn of his career.
“When you’re young and you win big races you think it’s going to happen ten times in your life”.
“But when you get older you realise that when it’s happening you need to enjoy every moment of it”.
“It’s pure pleasure today”.
Of the beaten horses, the connections of both the second and third were thrilled with the performances of Bluestocking and Rebel’s Romance, with the former almost certainly to go to the Arc in October as an end-of-season target.
However, the chance of Auguste Rodin was ruined by the ground, according to trainer Aidan O’Brien, as he felt the ground was more Good to Soft than Good to Firm.
“When we came here we walked the track and were very worried. It was good, good to soft in places, nowhere near good to firm”.
“It was cut up on the rails, but we knew we had no choice”.
“With the benefit of hindsight we should have kept out off out of the bad ground and gone out on the quicker ground but that’s the way it is for us today”.
“There will be other days. We are going to go the Japan Cup with him, with maybe a run before somewhere, so we’ll how he is and what the lads want to do”.
He also noted on the performance of Luxembourg, who was a shade disappointing for the Ballydoyle team.
“Luxembourg pulled a front and a back shoe off, that suggests tacky or cut-up ground when that happens”.
Whilst the winner is not eligible to run in something like the Arc as he is not an entire, there are still plenty of targets for him, both in France and abroad.
Though whether they go off 25/1 after this top-flight success, remains to be seen.
Stone the crows, as the saying goes.
And this time, it was Goliath who stunned.
