The 2013 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes was a horse race held at Ascot Racecourse on Saturday 27 July 2013. It was the 63rd King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
The winner was Christoph Berglar's Novellist, a four-year-old bay colt trained in Germany by Andrea Wohler and ridden by Johnny Murtagh. Novellist's victory was the fourth in the race for Murtagh and the first for his trainer and owner. It was the second consecutive success for a German-trained horse following the victory of Danedream in 2012.
Novellist was an established international performer, having won the Gran Premio di Milano in Italy in October 2012 and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France in June 2013. In the 2013 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Novellist, starting at odds of 13/2, took the lead a quarter of a mile from a finish and drew clear in the closing stages and won by five lengths from the Irish colt Trading Leather. The British colt Hillstar finished third ahead of the French-trained favourite Cirrus des Aigles.
This was the first running of the race to be shown on Channel 4; the BBC had shown the race every year from 1951 to 2012.
Race details Sponsor: Betfair Purse: £1,047,641; First prize: £603,961 Surface: Turf Going: Good to Firm Distance: 12 furlongs Number of runners: 8 Winner's time: 2:24.60
Full result Pos. Marg. Horse (bred) Age Jockey Trainer (Country) Odds 1 Novellist (IRE) 4 Johnny Murtagh Andreas Wohler (GER) 13/2 2 5 Trading Leather (IRE) 3 Kevin Manning Jim Bolger (IRE) 9/2 3 ¾ Hillstar (GB) 3 Ryan Moore Michael Stoute (GB) 5/1 4 3 Cirrus des Aigles (FR) 7 Christophe Soumillon Corine Barande-Barbe (FR) 6/4 fav 5 hd Universal (IRE) 4 Joe Fanning Mark Johnston (GB) 14/1 6 5 Red Cadeaux (GB) 7 Graham Lee Ed Dunlop (GB) 25/1 7 7 Very Nice Name (FR) 4 Olivier Peslier A. de Mieulle (FR) 14/1 8 36 Ektihaam (IRE) 4 Dane O'Neill Roger Varian (GB) 10/1 Abbreviations: nse = nose; nk = neck; shd = head; hd = head
Winner's details Further details of the winner, Novellist Sex: Colt Foaled: 10 March 2009 Country: Ireland Sire: Monsun; Dam: Night Lagoon (Lagunas) Owner: Christoph Berglar Breeder: Christoph Berglar
Subsequent breeding careers Leading progeny of participants in the 2013 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Novellist (1st) - Last Draft (1st Keisei Hai 2019)Universal (5th) - Minor flat and jumps winnersVery Nice Name (7th) - Minor flat runnersHillstar (3rd) - Progeny yet to race
References