Goliath takes giant leap forward in strongly run King George but striking victory was no fluke

Goliath's surprise success in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes takes some believing, but with a strongly run race and good time backing a big personal-best there appears no fluke about his performance and a Racing Post Rating of 128 is right up to the ten-year average for the Group 1 contest.

In a race run nearly five seconds faster than when Goliath finished runner-up in last month's Hardwicke Stakes, this truer test saw the often free-running four-year-old gelding in a different light as he improved fully a stone on his Royal Ascot RPR. On the clock the contrast is even greater, with the 4.76sec faster time of the King George equating to around a 40lb superior speed figure.

While not obviously a fluke, it's also the case that not many top-level contests are run in quite this fashion, with an already good pace picking up through halfway and resulting in a relatively slow finish.