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Originally Posted by Hwjb
You're absolutely right Kev.
Hawk Wing apart, Rock of Gibraltar was competing in a season with a particularly ordinary bunch of milers, and he never produced the form of an outstanding miler, scoring 124 when a fortunate winner of the Guineas. His best figure was 129 in the St James's Palace Stakes, but then only had to run to 124 & 122 to win the Sussex and Moulin. He recorded 125 when runner-up to Domedriver at Arlington.
George Washington put up a 129 in the Guineas, before running to just 116 at the Curragh where the combination of the heavy ground and his suspect temperament got the better of him. At Ascot on Saturday he recorded 132, that's 3lb in excess of the Rock's best Timeform figure. While his temperament remains an issue, there is every reason to believe that he's maturing as he ages.
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Here's the actual story surrounding the Time Form rating....
George best winner of QEII since Dubai Millennium
by Rodney Masters and Tony O'Hehir
NOT quite yet rubbing shoulders with greatness. Although George Washington was the classiest winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes since Godolphin’s Dubai Millennium in 1999, he remains 5lb shy of the performance recorded by another Godolphin star, Mark Of Esteem, ten years ago.
Racing Post handicapper Paul Curtis raised George Washington, who was reported in good shape by trainer Aidan O'Brien on Sunday, to a rating of 131, an increase of 4lb on the 2,000 Guineas, but on Sunday questioned whether his opponents were quite of the same calibre seen in many previous runnings of the Ascot contest.
“I’ve taken a fairly positive view of the race,” explained Curtis. “George Washington looked fantastic in the Guineas, and he looked fantastic again on Saturday. However, while it was a worthy championship race because it had all the right horses - lots of Group 1 winners - there’s little doubt that Group 1 winners over a mile this year haven’t been a match for many of the equivalent winners in quite a few previousseasons. For example, last year we had the likes of Dubawi, Rakti and Starcraft.”
He added: “Going into Saturday’s race, the best performance amongst the runners to match George Washington’s 2,000 Guineas was Proclamation’s success in last year’s Sussex Stakes. “Under the circumstances, it was difficult to rate the race, but I’ve pencilled in George Washington on 131. I’ve raised both Araafa (second) and Killybegs (fourth) by 5lb, although there remains a question mark over whether they are that good and I’ll be looking to them to uphold the form.”