Diamond trio ready to sparkle

By Alan Conway

The word diamond may be missing from the title but the King George VI Stakes due to take place at Ascot this Saturday hasn’t lost any of its sparkle and with Workforce, Rewilding and St Nicholas Abbey all confirmed runners at this stage this year’s race should be another memorable contest.

Accepted as the traditional mid-summer highlight for flat racing fans the King George has a roll of honour that few races can match. From Ribot, Mill Reef and Nijinsky all the way to Montjeu, Galileo and last year’s winner Harbinger the race has consistently produced a conveyer belt of top class champions.

In the run up to the 2011 renewal two horses, Workforce and St Nicholas Abbey, have dominated the column inches as well as the ante post market. Both horses are on somewhat of a retrieval mission, the two are trying to re-gloss their once unblemished reputations.

For St Nicholas Abbey this season has been about redemption. Having been touted as a potential triple crown winner at the end of his two-year-old campaign, his reputation looked in tatters after he failed to fire in last year’s 2000 Guineas. He wasn’t seen after Newmarket and some thought he would be whisked off to stud and wouldn’t see a racecourse again.

Yet he has proved all the doubters wrong. Despite being beaten on his seasonal debut at the Curragh the Montjeu colt has won his last two starts, with his last a narrow but snug defeat of the high class mare Midday in the Coronation Cup.

As for Workforce, he ran away with the Derby and annexed the Arc at Longchamp in October it seemed that all the major middle distance prizes were at his mercy this year.

After landing the Brigadier Gearad Stakes in May Workforce didn’t surface again until the Coral Eclipse when he only just lost out in a terrific battle against So You Think. That day Workforce and Ryan Moore did everything right. Except win.

Some would argue that Workforce took up the running too soon at Sandown that day. Looking back I don’t think it made much difference. He just ran into a better horse on the day.

For people who will back Workforce his credentials are obvious. He is blessed with huge talent and a great change of gear. The worry about his chances is that he bombed out so badly last year when favourite for the very same race. That day he finished a long way behind stable mate Harbinger.

I’m still not convinced that Ascot suits Workforce. He is such a deep bodied horse that he can take just a little longer to hit top gear than other horses. Also a small field doesn’t play to his strengths as he likes to come off a furious fast pace. If he takes up the running too soon at Ascot he is there to be run down and the horse that could run him down may not be St Nicholas Abbey.

Rewilding could be the one that upsets the top two in the betting. He gained his finest victory when he lowered the colours of So You Think in the Prince of Wales at Ascot under an ultra powerful Frankie Dettori ride.

The Godolphin operation are in fine form as they showed when Blue Bunting landed the Irish Oaks this past Sunday at the Curragh and they could be celebrating once again this weekend.

By Alan Conway