Best of the bests: the top Ascot hero on ratings is revealed

In the final installment of a six-part series in the run up-to the King George, focusing on the best performances in the contest on Racing Post Ratings, Graham Dench concludes with Generous, who recorded a figure of 137, the highest awarded to any winner of the race in the Racing Post's lifetime

He was Generous by name and generous by nature. His eagerness to please was perhaps his downfall by the time he got to Longchamp in October, but he lit up the summer of 1991 with three glorious performances.

Having registered rare Racing Post Ratings well into the 130s when a fabulous five-length winner from Marju in the Derby and a three-length winner from French Derby hero Suave Dancer at the Curragh, Generous was understandably expected to complete the hat-trick, yet few were prepared for the show he put on at Ascot.

This was the King George, after all, and a decent one too, yet Generous scored in devastating fashion, quickening right away from the previous year's French Derby winner Sanglamore and progressive Hardwicke winner Rock Hopper up the straight without Alan Munro getting remotely serious with him.

The winning margin of seven lengths was the widest ever, and it could have been significantly wider but for Munro taking long looks around as he eased him down in the last 100 yards. It was a margin not bettered for another 19 years.

A Dewhurst winner the previous year, and precocious and speedy enough to have been second in the Coventry four months before that, Generous was an extraordinary talent, and Paul Cole and his team handled him brilliantly.

Reflecting on that summer's day 26 years ago, and the sole disappointment in the colt's career that followed, Cole said: "Having an odds-on favourite in such a big race made me more nervous than usual, and Generous was a bit of a free sweater who was sweating even more that day.

"He was a bright chestnut, a type that's often a bit lively, and when I went to saddle him I seem to remember my travelling head lad Richard Warden telling me he'd washed him down twice already.

"But when the race was under way he settled very well, which was a relief, and it was great to see that enormous burst of speed carry him clear up the straight. Nobody expected him to win so far, and it was probably even more thrilling than winning the Derby."

He added: "He was very special that day, as he had been at Epsom and the Curragh, but unfortunately he couldn't repeat the form in the Arc.

"His last work before Longchamp was good, and he went there 100 per cent so far as we could tell, but he was flat when we worked him afterwards and somewhere between that last gallop and the race itself he went over the top.

"He was a horse who always gave everything, and so he never had an easy gallop or an easy race. It caught up with him eventually."

Racing Post handicapper Sam Walker says . . .

Generous arrived at Ascot as king of his generation with a peak RPR of 133 after wins in the Derby and Irish Derby. He improved again when thrown in against his elders for the first time, beating Prix du Jockey Club winner Sanglamore by an eased-down seven lengths with an RPR of 137.

The three-year-olds were a good group that year and the colts he beat in the Classics went on to win the Coral-Eclipse, Prix Jacques Le Marois, St James's Palace Stakes, Irish Champion Stakes and Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

WHAT ENABLE AND CO ARE SHOOTING AT
The top King George winners on Racing Post Ratings

Generous (1991) 137
Harbinger (2010) 135
Daylami (1999) 134
Montjeu (2000) 133
Swain (1997) 133
St Jovite (1992) 133

If you liked this, read about more King George greats here:

2000: Imperious Montjeu a fitting 50th winner

1997: Battling Swain grinds it out against firmament of stars

1992: St Jovite routs his rivals with awesome display

1999: Daylami takes his form to another level

2010: Unbelievable Harbinger wins in unprecedented style