Workforce out in strength for King George
A seven-length winner of the Derby, who broke the course record with the same remorseless stride that broke his field at Epsom.
Beat that.
Well, five horses will be attempting to do just that when Workforce runs in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. This Group One race was designed in 1951 by Sir John Crocker Bulteel, the clerk of the course at Ascot, as a race that would bring together the Classic generation and the older division and this year’s renewal is worthy of that ideal.
Workforce, despite his impressive victory in the Derby, has been an uneasy market leader this week and there are doubts about his yard. The form of Sir Michael Stoute’s runners has been way below the mark this month and that has cast doubts on the chances of both Workforce and stable companion Harbinger.
Five winners from 55 runners in Britain during July is a sobering statistic but this is a trainer whose experience at the top level of competition is second to none and the fact that he wants to run suggests that he believes that both horses are capable of showing their best form.
Despite being a four-year-old, Harbinger is still something of a work in progress himself and put up a career-best effort, over course and distance, when he won the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot last month. But there will be more required and stable jockey Ryan Moore did not waste time deliberating over his choice.
The main opposition, according to the markets, is Cape Blanco, who actually beat Workforce by three-and-a-quarter lengths in the Dante Stakes at York in May.
There were obvious reasons for Workforce’s performance - he ran very green and the bit came through his mouth – and the relative merits of their most recent runs gives Workforce the edge. Having disappointed in the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly, Cape Blanco then won the Irish Derby at the Curragh four weeks ago in what was a clean sweep for the Aidan O’Brien yard.
His half-length defeat of Midas Touch, with Jan Vermeer and one-and-a-half lengths away in third, does not stack up against the way that Workforce beat those two colts at Epsom. There is also a question of stamina. One of the reasons that Cape Blanco ran in the French Classic, over an extended 10 furlongs, was because of stamina doubts about his pedigree. There is a case for saying that those questions have been answered but Ascot is a tough 12 furlongs and Stoute’s inclusion of Confront, to act as a pacemaker for Workforce, may just ask more questions than Cape Blanco can answer.
Trying to find the answer to get Youmzain’s head in front in one of the showpiece races has proved beyond a few jockeys. This will be his 22nd consecutive run in a Group One race – and he has won two of them – but he seems to be at his best in a big field and may just see too much daylight here, while Daryakana would need to improve on her best previous victories to take a hand.
Margot Did was beaten last time out but that head defeat by Memory, over course and distance in the Albany Stakes, represents top-class form and she should win the Group Three Princess Margaret Abu Dhabi Stakes.
The Victoria Racing Club International Handicap is its usual cavalry charge but Noble Citizen could fit the bill. His three wins have come over the same distance as this race, seven furlongs, and while his last run, at the July meeting at Newmarket was probably an accident of the draw he has put up two good runs at Ascot this season for a yard that is still rattling in the winners.
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