Ranked: the top ten Flat horses of the last ten years

10 Harbinger

People like stories, and Harbinger's was pedestrian. A Sir Michael Stoute-trained late bloomer, you say? Did not run in a Group 1 until he was four? Won the Hardwicke and the King George? Why, it must be just about any year since 1982.

This was different. In the days before Frankel, the 2010 King George was a rub-your-eyes moment. We had seen Olivier Peslier cruising in big races before, it was what he did. When he pressed the button two furlongs out, the race looked over. He would win this by three lengths. But Peslier and Harbinger stretched on and on, like a basketball player getting out of an armchair. By the time they crossed the line it must have been, what, eight lengths? Try 11.

Harbinger and Olivier Peslier romp home by 11 lengths in the 2010 King GeorgeCredit: Edward Whitaker

Temptation towards disbelief was dashed by the form. Runner-up Cape Blanco had won the Irish Derby on his previous run and took the Irish Champion Stakes next time. Third-placed Youmzain, beaten nearly 15 lengths, had been done by a nose in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud 27 days previously.