Great races on paper do not always live up to their prior billing on the track but the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes here on Saturday was an instant classic, as Hukum and Westover went head-to-head for the line from the furlong pole.
It was only in the final strides that Hukum and Jim Crowley finally gained the upper hand, inching in front by a head at the line to give Owen Burrows, the winner’s trainer, the most significant success of his career by some margin.
The first moment of drama in the race came on the home turn, as Auguste Rodin, the 9-4 favourite to add the King George to his Derby wins in England and Ireland, dropped to the rear and started to tail off. He eventually crossed the line in last place, more than 100 lengths behind the winner.
Auguste Rodin’s pace-setting stable companions, Bolshoi Ballet and Point Lonsdale, then began to tire, allowing Luxembourg, Aidan O’Brien’s fourth runner in the race, to charge through an inviting gap on the far rail. His effort soon faltered, though, as Rob Hornby struck for home on the 7-1 chance Westover, with Hukum (13-2) and King Of Steel (9-2), the runner-up in last month’s Derby, in pursuit.
King Of Steel could only stay on at one pace as the battle between Hukum and Westover was joined in earnest, but there will be other days for Roger Varian’s three-year-old, as there will for the pair that finished nearly five lengths in front of him.
Hukum is now second-favourite at 8-1 for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with most bookmakers, while Westover is around 11-1 to win European racing’s showpiece event in October.
Newton Abbot 2.10 Songo 2.45 Hunting Percival 3.20 Sisterandbrother 3.55 Fat Sam 4.30 Dicey Rielly 5.00 Alright Dai
Ayr 2.30 Red Zone Hero 3.05 Zegos Surprise 3.40 Novak 4.15 Paddy The Squire (nap) 4.50 Fifty Sent 5.25 Sixcor
Lingfield Park 5.52 Senseofentitlement 6.22 Kentucky Kingdom 6.57 Molaqab 7.32 Otago 8.02 Renesmee 8.32 Morning Colours
Ffos Las 6.02 Coffeemeanscoffee 6.32 Harts Pocketrocket (nb) 7.07 Trusty Rusty 7.42 Lady Boba 8.12 She’s A Mirage 8.42 Lunar Landscape
For Burrows, who trained privately for the late Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum before opening up as a public trainer in 2022, the result was a career milestone which has the promise of better yet to come.
His string of around 40 horses in Lambourn is small by modern standards, but he had an impressive 31% strike rate from his 67 runners last year and Hukum’s win completed an across-the-cards double after Alflaila’s success in the Group Two York Stakes on the Knavesmire.
“We felt he has never been better – this season, for whatever reason, he’s shown a lot more speed,” Burrows said. “But what a tough horse, and he had to be, because the second didn’t lay down, did he. He made us fight all the way. What a race. It lived up to its spectacle.
“I can’t put into words what it means, I’m in my second season as a public trainer and we have a great team. This horse has been a huge part of my career. He’s my first Royal Ascot winner, first Group One winner [in last season’s Coronation Cup at Epsom] and he won in Dubai when we first went out after the sad passing of Sheikh Hamdan [in March 2021], so to come back and do what he’s done is just amazing.”
Sheikha Hissa al Maktoum is now in charge of her late father’s extensive racing operation and it would have been easy to pack Hukum off to stud when he suffered an injury after his win at Epsom last summer. He was nursed back to full health at Shadwell Stud, however, and the decision to keep him in training has now proved to have been inspired.
“It was a performance of pure determination,” Crowley said. “The race went smoothly, I had a nice position, I got on to the back of Westover turning in and had to hope that something didn’t come from out of the pack because, in fairness to the second, he didn’t lie down.
“Full credit to Sheikha Hissa, they decided to keep him in training and they’ve been rewarded.”
O’Brien was mystified by the performance of Auguste Rodin, and it seems likely that an explanation for his poor run will come to light in due course. “No excuses,” the trainer said. “Whatever happened, the power ran out and it ran out early. That’s the unusual thing, the race wasn’t even started.
“He was calm in the paddock, we were very happy with him. There is obviously a reason and we’ll find it. It is frustrating, but that’s the way.”
