Trainer insists going significantly softer than advertisedTimeform back course in King George controversy
Kyprios, the odds-on favourite, added another Group One to Aidan O’Brien’s ever-extending list of top-flight victories at Goodwood on Tuesday with a straightforward success in the Goodwood Cup in a new course-record time, but a race that got away – Saturday’s King George at Ascot – was still the main topic for discussion after O’Brien had picked up the prize.
O’Brien suggested in the immediate aftermath of Auguste Rodin’s defeat as the 7-4 favourite at Ascot that he had been forced to race on ground that was significantly softer than the official description of good-to-firm, good in places. Chris Stickels, the clerk of the course, later insisted that race-times on the afternoon backed up the official description, a view that the independent and respected Timeform organisation subsequently suggested was “pretty close to the mark”.
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