Shadwell Estate Co's homebred Hukum, a 6-year-old full brother to brilliant miler Baaeed, prevailed in an epic stretch battle with younger rival Westover in a stirring edition of the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II QIPCO Stakes (G1) Saturday at Ascot.
The pair powered away from 3-year-old King Of Steel in the final furlong and furiously battled to the finish, with Hukum prevailing in a monumental effort for Jim Crowley, scoring by a nose outside of 4-year-old Westover. King Of Steel was 4 1/2 lengths back in third. Epsom Derby (G1)/Irish Derby (G1) winner Auguste Rodin, racing in last place, faltered nearing the home turn and was eased before finishing last as the 9-4 favorite in the 10-horse field.
Time for the 1 1/2 miles was 2:33.95 on turf rated as good to soft.
With the win, Hukum earned a guaranteed start in the $4-million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf (G1) in November at Santa Anita via the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In.
Hukum's victory came on the heels of his impressive comeback in May when he defeated last years' Epsom Derby winner Desert Crown the Brigadier Gerard (G3) at Sandown. He had been sidelined for 356 days after winning the Coronation Cup (G2) in June 2022 at Epsom when the Owen Burrows-trained Sea The Stars horse sustained a potentially career-ending hind-leg fracture.
“I've always believed in him and even last year I said to Owen this could be a King George horse –he's out of his brother's shadow now,” Crowley told ITV immediately after the race.
“It's a great training performance by Owen because he was off a year, and in fairness to (Shadwell owner) Sheikha Hissa she persisted with him to bring him back into training.
“It would've been very easy to retire him as a full brother to Baaeed. She had faith and it's great, that was something special.
“Westover got first run at me, but it gave me something to aim at. He was so tough, I never felt he was going to come off second best there.”
In a demonstration of heart and consistency, Hukum took his career line to 11-1-2 from 17 starts.
Bred in Ireland Hukum was produced by the stakes-winning Kingmambo mare Aghareed, a descendant of the late Sheikh Hamdan's blue hen mare Height Of Fashion. Full brother Baaeed, a six-time Group 1 winner who closed his racing career last year as the world's top-rated turf horse and the second-highest-rated horse in the world after achieving a mark of 135, stood his first season this at Shadwell's Nunnery Stud.
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