3 reasons why Cyrname won’t win the King George

The King George is the feature of the Christmas period and while it won’t have a crowd this year, it doesn’t make it any less of a superb contest in prospect. The race has been won by Clan Des Obeaux for the last two years yet he is only joint favourite in 2020 with his stablemate Cyrname.

We will have free horse racing tips for every meeting on Boxing Day but Cyrname won’t be one of them. Here’s three reasons why he won’t win the King George.

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1 – He was thrashed in the race last year by Clan Des Obeaux

Having beaten Altior at Ascot in November of last year, it wasn’t a surprise that so many racing fans felt he was the King George winner in waiting. We put up Clan Des Obeaux in week 1 of being part of the Racing Post’s What A Shout show and he got us off to the perfect start.

Cyrname may well have simply been flat on that occasion but he has twenty-one lengths to make up and that’s with his stablemate being eased up the run-in. The margin could’ve been thirty if Sam Twiston-Davies had kept the winner up to his work but it wasn’t needed to hand Cyrname a pasting.

2 – Ascot is still very much his favourite track

His three best performances have all come at Ascot over 2m5f. While he proved his stamina for this three mile test in the Charlie Hall, an RPR of 174 for that performance (which was generous) is well below the 181, 179 and 178 that he has produced at Ascot.

He did manage to win twice at a lower level at this track as a novice but on both occasions, he had things all his own way on the front end, beating horses who are not close to Grade 1 level.

3 – His level of form just doesn’t stack up at Grade 1 level

Cyrname has a single win in five starts at Grade 1 level, beating Waiting Patiently at Ascot. That rival is notoriously fragile and his runs since have indicated that less of a test suits him. Fox Norton in third has not been seen since while the fourth (Politolouge) is another who has shown his best form at shorter.

He beat Altior (over the Henderson horses wrong trip) to kick off last season and perhaps that took more out of him than looked likely at the time given his lesser efforts subsequently.

Once more he kicked off this campaign with a win first time up so who knows what effect that’s had, trying to prove himself both left-handed and over three miles. The field he beat in the Grade 2 Charlie Hall would hardly be considered good enough to figure here.

He beat Vinndication two lengths, a horse who also had a lot to prove left-handed. He’s 0-4 that way round compared to 7/8 when going right! Third, Aye Right, has improved plenty this year but is currently just a top notch handicapper. Fourth – Keeper Hill – has been beaten out of sight twice since having run Cyrname to seventeen lengths. Then the fifth – La Bague Au Roi – has since been retired after a disappointing run in the Ladbrokes Trophy.

While Cyrname has been visually impressive on a number of occasions, a deep dive into the form reveals some serious holes. Now of course, he can only beat what is put in front of him but but he still has plenty to prove to justify being joint favourite for the King George. Especially when he’s in that position with a dual winner of this race