Thomas Up There With The Best

The King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot may have been tagged a substandard affair beforehand, but the manner in which Dylan Thomas slammed his rivals has been acclaimed by the senior British Horseracing Board handicapper.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained colt shot four lengths clear of Youmzain in a race which had attracted close scrutiny and led to suggestions it was in decline, with once again no representative of the Classic generation taking part.

But the son of Danehill has been rated 126 by Phil Smith, the same mark as he achieved in last year's World Thoroughbred Rankings and the same as the last two King George winners, Hurricane Run and Azamour.

Only one winner, Alamshar, has been significantly higher since 2002.

Smith said: 'He won comfortably in a truly-run race and treated everything that was put before him with disdain.

'As a King George winner he is well up to standard, which is a very high standard indeed.'

Mick Channon, trainer of the gallant Youmzain, was vehement in his defence of this year's renewal.

He said: 'A lot of trainers are working very hard to put on a show. I have no problem with people saying something is substandard, if that's a fact I can live with that. But Dylan Thomas is a top-class horse.

'Maraahel (third) is a horse who has been consistent in Group One races everywhere, and if we're not careful all we are going to do is get these horses sold to Hong Kong and America, and British racing will be poorer for it.'

Reflecting on Youmzain's run, he added: 'Hughesy (Richard Hughes) thought he had him, but he kicked better than we did and we kicked pretty good. The winner has just quickened that little bit better than we did.

'I'd have thought we will probably go to Germany and then the Arc. We'll turn up and hope we get lucky. The good thing with our horse is he goes on any ground. It doesn't matter basically how a race is run as long as he is right.'

(C) PA Sport