Battling Swain grinds it out to beat a firmament of stars

In the second of a six-part series building up to the King George, we focus on the best performances in the Ascot midsummer showpiece on Racing Post Ratings. Stuart Riley continues with Swain, who recorded a figure of 133 in 1997

Swain arrived at Saeed Bin Suroor's for the 1997 season already a Coronation Cup winner and with a fourth in an Arc and a third in a Breeders' Cup Turf to underline his Group 1 credentials, so defeat on his seasonal bow in the Princess of Wales's – to the St Leger winner – was an inauspicious start.

Consequently he lined up for the 1997 King George as a 16-1 shot against five-time Group 1 and Arc winner Helissio, three-time Group 1 winner Singspiel, Pilsudski – who at the time had amassed half of his six Group 1s – and his Newmarket conqueror Shantou, among others, for what was quite simply one of the deepest King George fields ever amassed.

But Swain didn't just win it, he won it twice. In a race run at a furious gallop and on the outside rail – but for cutting the corners –owing to the soft ground, he had his work cut out to get on terms with the 11-10 favourite Helissio.

Turning in Cash Asmussen seemed to be travelling much the better on the previous year's Arc hero as John Reid was hard at work on Swain, but slowly he ground his way to the front at the two-furlong marker.

But it was not job done. No sooner had he seen off one threat than two more appeared, Pilsudski and Singspiel looming up menacingly on Swain's outside. But he was nothing if not gutsy and dug tremendously deep to repel the pair, along with the rallying Helissio, to win by a length.

John Reid: 'As the race went on I got more and more confident he could win'

It was the only time Reid partnered the son of Nashwan, who added the following year's King George and Irish Champion Stakes to his own impressive Group 1 haul, but he very nearly did not ride him.

He said: "I was offered the choice of Swain and Singspiel and I thought Singspiel had the more obvious chance, but I was riding a lot for both Sir Michael Stoute and Godolphin and didn't want to upset either party.

"As both horses were owned by Sheikh Mohammed I let him decide which one he wanted me on and he chose for me to ride Swain. Initially I was half-disappointed but as it transpired I was on the right one."

Reid added: "It was a very, very strong race and things worked out for me on the day. He stayed very well and had raced over further. There was a lot of rain and the ground was quite soft and I knew that was in his favour, and then we went around the outside, so as the race went on I got more and more confident he could win.

"Helissio set a pretty strong pace for that ground and I followed him. I was trying to hang on until we got the the straight and then I thought if there were a few behind me going well I need to get on with my job."

A year on and it's Swain again, beating High-Rise (right) and Royal AnthemCredit: Edward Whitaker

Of the final drive for glory, he said: "I probably hit down too early as I was trying to take the speed out of the others and he came home pretty tired, but he was gutsy and he tried hard and he proved what a good horse he was by coming back to win it on better ground."

Full of admiration for his mount's toughness, he added: "It was a great race and a hard-fought battle, but he stuck to his game well.

"He really had to battle on and he was such a brave horse, he really stuck to the task. He was almost out of petrol at the half pole but so were the others and that was the plan, to out-gallop them."

Racing Post handicapper Sam Walker says . . .

Swain beat an all-star field in a golden period for older middle-distance horses to land his first King George in 1997 and register a 133 RPR. He won by a length but it was one of the strongest runnings in recent history, the beaten horses including multiple Group 1 winners like Pilsudski, Helissio and Singspiel.

The following year Swain secured another victory for the old boys at the age of six, when he beat Derby winner High-Rise by a length, for a 131 RPR. That was the fourth year in a row a horse born in 1992 had landed the King George (after three-year-old Lammtarra and four-year-old Pentire).

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