King George Day is the first proper raceday for a number of people
King George Day and a superb and intriguing race is in store. It was first run on 21st July 1951, as the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Festival of Britain Stakes, and it was dreamt up by Major John Crocker Bulteel, who was Ascot’s Clerk of the Course. The race was an amalgamation of the King George VI Stakes, first run in 1946, for 3yos over 2m, which had been run at the October meeting; and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, first run over 1½m at the July meeting of 1948, when Tenerani won from Black Tarquin. The idea was to create a truly international race of great importance, for 3yo+, and this dream quickly came to fruition with Supreme Court, Tulyar, Pinza, Aureole and Ribot among the early winners. The 1975 renewal saw one of the greatest flat races of the 20th Century, when after a heart-stopping duel, Epsom Derby winner Grundy triumphed by half a length from Bustino, with the track record in tatters. The race is now firmly established as the main mid-summer test for middle-distance horses, giving the classic three-year-olds an early opportunity to take on their elders. Its importance is witnessed by the race becoming part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge series in 2011, with the winner earning an automatic invitation to compete in the same year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf.
JOHNNY THE FISH: A reader writes:
You might not have known that I married Johnny’s cousin. I didn’t know Johnny except by familial reputation, and he had therefore not been invited to be an usher. Keen, however, that we become acquainted, he decided it best to join the usher pre-service lunch at the Fox and Hounds in Knossington, and after the initial introductions were made, I asked him what he’d like to drink. G&T, he suggested. As he looked like a man who would shy at a single, I ordered a double from the barman. “No”, said Johnny, “he means a Quadruple!”
Plus ça change.
It’s been a busy week on the industry’s ever-revolving contractual doors. Most obvious is the appointment of Simon Cox, who was elected for an initial three‑year term as the BHA chair starting 1 October. It isn’t the BHA’s stupidest appointment to date, as Cox brings solid industry knowledge and real commercial experience. He has been a racing owner for more than fifteen years and a breeder with approximately ten broodmares. He has served as a TBA trustee for the past four years, chaired the BHA’s Jump Pattern Committee, and was a PJA board member. Several high‑profile racing figures expressed disappointment that Peter Savill was interviewed and then rejected. Among them were Bjorn Nielsen, Richard Fahey, Philip Hobbs, Gary Moore, and Mark Johnston. Savill expressed astonishment that the BHA never even asked to see the proposals he said he would try to introduce if elected as chairman.
A slightly more interesting appointment
