What A Story! Novellist wins in record time
The 13-2 shot Novellist, trained in Germany by Andreas Wohler, won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth 11 Stakes at Ascot on Saturday.
Irish Derby victor Trading Leather, took second, five lengths behind, with Hillstar a further three quarters of a length back in third.
Cirrus des Aigles, the 6-4 favourite and bidding to become at seven the oldest winner of this prestigious Group One, ran disappointingly.
Novellist blitzed down the Ascot straight to smash the course record in a time of 2min 24.60sec under Johnny Murtagh and banked the first prize of £604 000.
The 43-year-old Irish veteran, annexing his fourth King George, told Channel 4: “At my age I don’t take any bad rides, only good ones!
“He didn’t feel like he broke the track record, he’s a very high class horse.”
For Wohler this was a dream win in England, the trainer reflecting: “I used to come to Ascot to watch the King George as a kid on my holidays, now I’m here winning it.
“We knew he’d improved since his last race but as much as that is unbelievable.”
Novellist was making it back-to-back wins for Germany after Danedream’s success 12 month ago in the British equivalent of France’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Danedream won the Arc in 2011 and now Novellist will attempt to follow suit on the first Sunday in October . He unsurprisingly jumped to the head of the ante-post betting at 6-1.
Murtagh is justifiably hoping to keep the ride, having been third choice jockey for the King George.
“I loved the way when I asked him to stretch he wanted to get on with it. He stretched well – pulling him up was probably the hardest part,” Murtagh said.
As geldings are prohibited from running in the Arc, French trainer Corinne Barande-Barbe had targeted this for Cirrus des Aigles, but the gamble failed to pay off as the highest rated horse in the world failed to fire.
Ridden by Christophe Soumillon, the horse who had given Frankel on his last appearance a fright at Ascot last October never got in a position to cause any damage, coming in fourth.
Barande-Barbe blamed her runner’s performance on lack of condition.
“He needs competition as he had a very big stop earlier in the year. He will improve again and we will now go on to York (for the Juddmonte International).”
Cirrus des Aigles will renew rivalry with Trading Leather after his trainer Jim Bolger identified the 10-furlong Group I race in August as his classic winner’s next target.
