Our man at the track reacts to Calandagan's win in a King George which had twists and turns at virtually every stage.
A Saturday thriller played out in three distinct chapters.
One: The gameplan that backfired
Even the very best can overthink things. The perceived wisdom, no, the obvious play, was once the stalls opened at 4.10 and 37 seconds at Ascot, Continuous goes to the front and Jan Brueghel takes pole position behind him. It worked a treat in the Coronation Cup at Epsom after all.
But three strides into the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Wayne Lordan is applying the brakes on the hare – up on the inside and to the front goes Jan Brueghel.
Wearing cheekpieces for the first time despite winning a Group One on his last appearance, he’s hardly the sort to race exuberantly. But seemingly that wasn’t the plan either.
In the stands, onlookers scratch their heads. In the end Continuous is on the bridle for far longer than his A-list stablemate. Four out and Ryan Moore changes his reins on the surprise leader, the shoulders and elbows start to propel him forward.
Now he needs to be going faster, he needs to be running the finish out of the quicker horses lurking behind. But he can’t. There’s no tow into the race on offer, nothing to take him to the bend before push comes to shove.
And it already has, alarmingly early. Turning for home and if you’d just walked into the room and switched on the TV, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Ballydoyle team have swapped silks at the last minute. Continuous is on the bridle, Jan Brueghel under maximum pressure.
This time there’s no bringing the closers to their knees, no chance to eyeball the pursuers. They’re past in a flash.
They’ll probably dust down the rarely opened ‘We’d love another go at that’ file in County Tipperary this evening because as it turned out, this wasn’t a King George for the sluggers. It was one for the gliders.
