Where does the King George stand in the pantheon of great Flat races?

The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes (3.35 Saturday) is talked about as Britain's premier weight-for-age middle-distance contest and one of the most prestigious of the Group 1s over Europe's most revered distance, but does that still hold true?

In short, that all depends on how you choose to answer the question. Here we look at several methods to establish the King George's position in the hierarchy of Great British races.

World's Best Race Rankings

Helpfully when it comes to answering this question, Longines sponsor the World's Best Race Rankings, which use the end-of-season ratings agreed by international handicappers to rank each race by the average rating achieved by the first four finishers.

Last year the King George finished third only to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Breeders' Cup Classic, with the Champion Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes – also at Ascot – at joint-sixth on the list.

In 2020 the race was ranked a lowly 23rd, hindered by the fact Enable won a three-runner race with the first four contributing to the rankings.

York's Juddmonte International was rated the world's best race that year, but that was a blip as in 2019 the King George ranked second only to the Arc, with the Prince of Wales's (third), Coral-Eclipse (fourth) and International (joint-sixth) other British races ranked in the top ten globally.

Enable: a brilliant two-time winner of the King GeorgeCredit: Dan Abraham

In the first year of the rankings in 2017, it came second once again to the Arc, with the International, Prince of Wales's and Champion Stakes tied for seventh.

However in 2018, the year Poet's Word beat Crystal Ocean, Coronet and Salouen, a sub-standard running resulted in a joint-12th placed ranking with the Prince of Wales's ranked Britain's best race.

In two of the last three, and three of the last five years, the King George has rated Britain's best race then, with one weak field and one small field accounting for the two disappointments.

European Pattern Committee

No system is perfect, but the method used by the European Pattern Committee is more robust than most.

They use the end-of-season ratings of the first four finishers and, unlike WBRR, consider three years worth of data on a rolling basis. For example, when they say the King George was the best race in Britain in 2021, they mean it has been the best over the period 2019-2021 inclusive.

That should not be a surprise as the sample captures Adayar's brilliant win last year and the Enable-Crystal Ocean epic two years earlier, but it also gets a boost from last year's runner-up Mishriff, even though it was his performance in the International which earned him his peak figure.

The previous sample was not so good, as the 2016-2018 runnings were won by Highland Reel, Enable and Poet's Word. Even so, the King George still sat in third place among British Group 1s when the Pattern Committee published their 2019 booklet, behind the Cracksman-graced Champion Stakes and the Juddmonte International.

There are two main takeouts that everyone should have from a ratings point of view. The King George still consistently attracts the very best middle-distance horses, even if they might do their best work elsewhere.

And even its fallow years tend to reflect a wider dip in the division, rather than a monument of the Flat season losing its shine.

With the bookies

This is the metric perhaps most impacted by Covid in recent years with intermittent shop closures and regional restrictions in Scotland and Wales creating a highly complex picture since the pandemic struck.

However, go back to 2019 when Enable won her second King George at odds of 8-15 and you might think the race was adversely affected by having such a dominant market leader – not a bit of it.

The race was the 13th highest in terms of turnover generated with Coral, but with the Grand National and Cheltenham Festival dominating the top of the list, only the Derby (third), Arc (ninth), 2,000 Guineas (11th) and Ascot Gold Cup (12th) generated more turnover.

The 2019 King George was the 13th highest in terms of turnover generated with CoralCredit: Edward Whitaker

The previous year, when Enable did not run, the King George came in 35th for turnover with Coral, with the bookmaker attributing that increase in turnover in 2019 was due "to the presence of Enable and Frankie Dettori that summer", noting the Coral-Eclipse and Arc also received similar boosts.

Coral spokesman David Stevens said: "In 2018 Cheltenham Festival races accounted for 25 of the top 40, in 2019 that figure was 21, reflecting the higher turnover of those ‘Enable-inspired’ Group 1s.

"But Enable also highlights how the make-up of a race can also impact negatively on its betting performance, as her last win in 2020, when she beat two rivals at odds-on 4-9, would not have inspired a particularly noteworthy turnover figure.

"Looking at the broader picture, there’s no doubt that the King George remains one of the biggest races of the Flat season as far as we’re concerned, it’s position within the top turnover races of the year may fluctuate slightly year-on-year, but the fact is it remains high up the list, and given the overall greater popularity of jump racing with punters, that suggests it retains plenty of appeal."

ITV viewing figures

The King George compares favourably with the Flat season's premier highlights from a viewing figures point of view.

Last year's post-lockdown figure of 722,000 is offset by the preceding year's 982,000, with a three-minute peak of 896,000 in 2019, 921,000 in 2018 and 843,000 in 2017 resulting in a five-year average of 872,800.

That holds up pretty well against the rest of the Flat calendar, with the Derby by far the most popular averaging 1.7 million viewers over the same period, while the royal meeting has also averaged over a million a day.

The King George's average of almost 900,000 viewers puts it on a par with Future Champions Day and Champions Day, which when you consider the supporting races around those three broadcasts shows the prestige the King George still carries with the viewing public.

It also puts the King George comfortably ahead of the likes of the St Leger, Guineas, Glorious Goodwood and York that all attract an average of roughly 700,000 viewers.

Read these next:

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