Novellist makes a claim for Longchamp with King George win
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Novellist stormed away to win the King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot and trainer Andreas Wohler now plans an assault on the Prix De L’arc De Triomphe in October.
The four-year-old is 6/1 to win at Longchamp, after Johnny Murtagh cruised home on the talented colt.
Novellist shot clear two furlongs from home to finish five lengths ahead of Trading Leather and Hillstar, while favourite Cirrus Des Aigles had to settle for fourth.
It was Murtagh’s fourth King George win of his career and the in-form jockey set a new course record of 2 minutes 24.60 seconds in the process, knocking two seconds off the previous best.
The win comes a month after Novellist’s Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud win and trainer Wohler was understandably delighted with the King George result.
“It’s the first big comparison between the best older horses and three-year-olds and he’s beaten the best three-year-olds.
“He will have one race beforehand and the Arc is the main target in the autumn.”
Trading Leather is 12/1 to win at Longchamp and trainer Jim Bolger was content with his result.
“That was very satisfactory. Everything went well until the last furlong and he probably could have done with a bit more pace early in the race.
“He’ll go to York for the Juddmonte and then the Irish Champion Stakes.”
Flintshire remains favourite for the famous Parisian race at 5/1 after his emphatic run to victory in the Grand Prix de Paris.
Intello – another Andre Fabre-trained horse is 6/1.
Though beaten into third with Maxim Guyon at a Group 1 contest at Longchamp in May, has romped to victory in it’s last two starts with regular jockey Olivier Peslier.
Al Kazeem is also in the mix at 6/1, after a trio of Grade 1 successes culminating in victory at the Eclipse at Sandown.
