Two of my abiding memories of Betfred Derby Day last month were of beaten horses, Calandagan and Benvenuto Cellini.
Now seven or so weeks on and they are favourite and second favourite for next Saturday’s King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. The wheels turn quickly in this game.
The sight of the mud-splattered French star crossing the line in his own time in the Coronation Cup was jarring. This is a horse you could set your clock by; he’d turn up on the big days across the globe and deliver. He arrived on the first Saturday of June the winner of his last five races, all at Group One level. He’d won in Japan, Dubai, France and England. You thought he’d seen it all. Then the heavens opened at Epsom, the ground loosened and the winning streak was over, with half-a-mile still to race.
Given many, me included, had somehow questioned his courage after failing to get past Jan Brueghel in the 2025 Coronation Cup, the worry was would such an experience leave a mark? The early evidence is thankfully not.
Because he was ready to go again at the start of this month, and while not having to hit the sort of figure he’s capable of, he produced a sustained turn of foot to win the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and prove the fire still burns.
