Goliath (top) and Alflaila (bottom) starred on Saturday
Saturday analysis as Goliath wins King George and Alflaila stars at York: Making giant strides
By Ben Linfoot
12:54 · SUN July 28, 2024
Ben Linfoot analyses the King George & Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot and the Sky Bet York Stakes after an informative Saturday's racing.
Goliath comes of age against all the odds
It was difficult to see coming but Francis-Henry Graffard’s GOLIATH slayed his rivals in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
There were no arguments with his pre-race odds of 25/1 given the steady but unspectacular progression he had shown in the first eight starts of his career – his Group 2 Hardwicke second on his latest start at Royal Ascot was a career-best, but it was still some way short of the standard required to win a King George.
Which poses the question – was it a substandard King George or has Goliath improved significantly?
All the evidence points towards the latter and some key factors help to explain the improvement; the training performance from Graffard getting him to peak on his fifth start of the season and ninth all told, the strong gallop on fast ground enabling him to show his best and the first-time inclusion of world-class jockey Christophe Soumillon.
The Belgian horseman had 10 days off before riding at Ascot on King George day, but he got his eye in with an eighth place on Divine Libra for Charlie Hills in the Moet & Chandon International Handicap before reserving his champagne moment for the big one.
Riding Goliath cold off a strong gallop, the fractions set by Hans Andersen and then Luxembourg as Aidan O’Brien’s team aimed to set things up for Auguste Rodin, Soumillon sat and waited and was noticeably travelling the best of all rounding the turn for home.
FULL REPORT and free video replay: Goliath wins King George
Rebel’s Romance and Auguste Rodin had raced side by side just off the gallop set by the frontrunners, but as the former hit the front he looked a sitting duck for Goliath who moved up smoothly in his slipstream and so it proved, the French-trained four-year-old kicking clear for an easy success.
Auguste Rodin dropped out tamely and it’s hard to swallow O’Brien’s excuses regarding the ground, with his tough race in the Prince Of Wales’s perhaps a more pertinent factor in this disappointing display.
Rebel’s Romance ran well in third, but he was overtaken for second by Bluestocking in the final furlong, Ralph Beckett’s filly another to benefit from dropping in off the strong early pace.
It’s a career-best from her, and with the 123-rated Rebel’s Romance seemingly running close to his best in third this has the look of an up to scratch renewal and a deserving winner.
The third son of German sire Adlerflug to win at the top level after Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Torquator Tasso and Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Alenquer, all eyes will be on him to repeat this performance but he’ll have to be respected wherever he goes, particularly in similar conditions – namely off a strong gallop over 1m4f on fast ground.
A strong pace looks key to him; after all, he was too keen off a slower pace in the Hardwicke. It does make you wonder what George Scott’s clearcut three-and-three-quarter length winner of that race, Isle Of Jura, unfortunately sidelined, would’ve done here, but this was a very different race run at a different tempo and perhaps Goliath would’ve turned the tables in any case.
Still, the son of New Approach’s connections will be wondering ‘what if’ and it is with hope that he returns to the track and back to his best in 2025.
They crawled early on with reluctant frontrunner King’s Gambit taking them along at a sedate pace, but he and Royal Rhyme had the run of things as they got rolling on the stands’ rail.
Deep into the contest it looked as though those two might have it between themselves, but Alflaila deserves plenty of credit for hanging in there and his class kicked in in the final half furlong as he sealed a cosy half-length victory under Jim Crowley.
He is a horse blessed with a sharp turn of foot for a 10-furlong performer, but he won this despite how things panned out and he’d have no problem trapping a stronger gallop in the Juddmonte International (he's now a general 12/1 shot).
That is shaping up to be a red-hot renewal with City Of Troy and Ambiente Friendly being pointed there to form a strong three-year-old challenge, but Alflaila could offer some stern resistance for the older horses.
He has come up short in two goes at the top level in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and the Prince Of Wales’s at Royal Ascot, beaten both times by Auguste Rodin, but with the King George fifth unlikely to take on stablemate City Of Troy at York the path is clear for Alflaila to prove he’s got what it takes at the highest level.
If he’s going to do it anywhere, you would think it will be at his beloved York.
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