Goliath slays rivals to pull off shock 25-1 King George victory with ease

Eighteen years on from one of the more colourful King George moments, an older, wiser and decidedly less demonstrative Christophe Soumillon took Ascot’s midsummer showpiece here on Saturday aboard the 25-1 outsider Goliath, and was able to savour the moment as he did so.

“I couldn’t imagine taking the lead so easily on the bridle,” he said. “It’s amazing to be able to enjoy and appreciate such a big win, 150 yards from the line.”

Soumillon’s celebration aboard Hurricane Run in 2006 involved his backside and an index finger, and while its precise meaning remained obscure, his relationship with André Fabre, the colt’s trainer, never entirely recovered.

Related: Talking Horses: King George’s clash of generations at risk of losing its shine

It was neither the first or last moment of wild exuberance or controversy in which Soumillon has been the central character over the years, and Saturday’s win was only his third Group One success since he received a 60-day ban for elbowing Rossa Ryan off his horse during a race in September 2022.

But in good times and bad, “Soumi” has always been box office, and Goliath’s win was a worthy addition to his extensive showreel. Francis-Henri Graffard’s gelding was a big outsider but won like an odds-on shot, always cruising behind the strong pace and then quickening abruptly to put the race to bed as Auguste Rodin, the favourite, dropped away tamely against the rail to finish fifth.

“When I came out of the turn, I felt he was cruising,” Soumillon said. “The way he gallops and the way his head is, and his ears, he looks a bit like Hurricane Run. He’s a bit less naughty than him, but he’s a great champion and I’m so proud for the Francis Graffard team. They gave me my chance back, and today I grabbed it.”

Soumillon lost his long-standing retainer with the Aga Khan after the incident with Ryan two years ago, but he remains a potent force at the highest level and feels he has plenty more big-race winners in him yet.

“So many people inspire me, especially Frankie [Dettori], seeing how many winners and top horses he got at the end of his racing career here in the UK,” Soumillon said. “Our fitness is probably different but I think with the experience, you are more relaxed and you know more how to ride a good horse in a big race. I’m 43, so I still have a lot of years in front of me.

“The last time I won the King George, there was a bad story coming in the evening, there were a lot of things going on and I couldn’t appreciate the victory. That’s the old story, and the new story is here.”

In truth, there was still a post-race controversy, but it concerned comments by Aidan O’Brien, the trainer of Auguste Rodin, about the going, which was officially described as good, good-to-firm in places.

“When we came here, we walked the track and we were very worried then,” O’Brien said on ITV Racing. “It was good, good-to-soft in places, it was nowhere near good-to-firm, it was cut up on the rails and it was full of sand.

“But we knew we had no choice, that’s where we were and we had to go down there [in the race]. With the benefit of hindsight, we should have kept out on the quicker ground, but that’s the way it is and that’s the way it fell for us today.”

However, Chris Stickels, the clerk of the course, defended the going description.

“I’ve heard what Aidan said,” Stickels said later. “The times don’t indicate that, the times indicate that it’s a mixture of good-to-firm and good, or good and good-to-firm on the round course.

“We take Going Stick readings, moisture readings, [and] we watered last night with 3mm because we didn’t want it to get to firm mid-afternoon in places today. There’s always a bit of divot mix after you’ve raced the day before. There would have been that at Royal Ascot as well when Auguste Rodin won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.”