Montjeu comes home in front in the King George

Who is the best recent winner of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes?

Horse Racing

Fri July 24, 2026 · 2M ago

If they all rocked up in their King George form, who would win this race?

The hypothetical runners

Shergar (1981)
Dancing Brave (1986)
Reference Point (1987)
Nashwan (1989)
St Jovite (1992)
Swain x 2 (1997 & 1998)
Montjeu (2000)
Galileo (2001)
Harbinger (2010)
Enable (2017, 2019 & 2020)

Our podcast team had their say on this week's edition which you can listen to right here.

Listen to the King George preview podcast

Graham Cunningham: We don’t need to think too deeply but when Montjeu won the King George, and I think he thrashed Fantastic Light, he went past the post and I thought I don’t think there’s a horse who’s ever been alive or invented who would have beaten him that day.

Billy Nash: I was actually there that day. I led up a horse called Raypour who was in as a pacemaker for Daliapour. He did a terrible job because he missed the break then went way too fast and they left him alone so that was a bit of a write-off but like you said, GC, it was absolutely breathtaking watching Montjeu win that day.

He was a pretty much a handful beforehand, they had to ride him into the parade ring if I remember correctly, he was mulish, but fantastic in the race itself. But I looked at the Timeform report on the race this morning and I might have been looking at it through rose-tinted glasses because the first line of the report says: ‘Thank goodness for Montjeu! Without whom it would have been a pretty dismal affair.'

2000 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes Montjeu Includes Replay & Enclosure

FB: Montjeu is more recent but surely Shergar at his peak would have won this? The way he won the Derby for Walter Swinburn and Irish Derby under Lester Piggott, he’d be the one for me. Reference Point would have made the running or been very prominent but I think Shergar would have been too good for them all.

I’ve spoken to Mick Kinane over the years and he said Montjeu in the King George was as good a feeling as you’ll get from a horse. He made very good rivals look slow but he was very well trained. He took a lot of minding.

GC: He’s a bit left-field but I think Harbinger would be right up there on Timeform ratings. Didn’t he demolish Workforce?

BN: He did and in fairness if our colleague David Johnson was here he’d certainly be in the Harbinger camp, but for what it’s worth I’d be with Dancing Brave. I was just a massive fan of his.