REELY Impressive Highland is back on the up
HIGHLAND REEL emphatically turned around Royal Ascot form with Dartmouth to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at the Berkshire track yesterday.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained fouryear-old just came off worse in a ding-dong battle with the Queen’s colt in the Hardwicke last month, but that was on soft ground and the market clearly expected a different result on sun- baked terrain this time.
Ryan Moore made all on the gambled-on 13-8 favourite, who held off Frankie Dettori’s mount Wings Of Desire by a length and a quarter with easy- to- back Dartmouth only third.
Moore said: “Highland Reel won Grade 1 races in America and Hong Kong last year and it was his first run back in Europe at the royal meeting. The soft ground wasn’t ideal and he’s improved for it here.
“He’s a tough horse who’s probably a bit underrated and he loved the fast ground today. When Dartmouth challenged, my horse found plenty.”
O’Brien (right) paid tribute to Moore for “a beautiful ride” and indicated the winner could soon be globetrotting again.
“He’s an incredible horse who travels the world and keeps getting better,” said the trainer. “We were delighted with how he’d worked since the Hardwicke and his development, both mentally and physically, is amazing.
“He can go back to Hong Kong or Australia and there’s also Japan