Jamie Lynch's King George Preview: Cirrus a cut above

'Evviva il coltellino!'

'Long live the little knife!' That was the impassioned cry that rang out in the Baroque opera houses, acclaiming the wonder of the castrato; the male singers who, castrated at a young age, developed an amazing vocal range. They were the headline acts in the forerunner of Italia's Got Talent, before the forerunner of Italia's Got Health & Safety Legislation intervened in 1870 and ruled that, actually, there may be something wrong in removing the testicles of boys aged six or seven, sacrificed to satisfy the aristocrats and dignitaries. 

And so ended the age of the castrato. But, in horseracing, a new one has begun.

Wise Dan, who needs no introduction nowadays, a six-time Grade 1 winner and Timeform rated 134, is a gelding, as is the next-best American racer, Game On Dude. The leading performers in Hong Kong are equine eunuchs, along with Canada's finest, Delegation, while, as far as Australia is concerned, lacking balls seems as much a help to their racehorses as it's a hindrance to their cricketers. 

In fact, a quarter of the top 40 active males in the Timeform Global Rankings are foot loose and teste free, including the number one - the highest-rated thoroughbred currently in training: Cirrus des Aigles.

While the singing castratos were spayed and made for the benefit of the nobility, the neo-revolution within racing towards geldings has an anti-traditionalist whiff to it, not conforming to the elitist and purist belief that the purpose of the championship races is to find the best in order to breed the best.

America, like Australia, has long since had an open policy in Grade 1 events, even including the Triple Crown races, without harm to its bloodstock industry, though Wise Dan in 2012 was the first gelding to be crowned US Horse of the Year since the legendary John Henry in 1984, the second time he'd won the award and a nine-year-old by then. 

It's in Europe where the discrimination has been prevalent, less so in Britain in the last quarter of a century after the all-aged Group 1s - such as the King George - were opened up to geldings from 1986, but the old prejudices are dying harder in France, to their detriment. 

France has the best horse in the world, who's barred from running in its - and Europe's - premier race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. It's a staggering state of affairs, more so considering the flimsy pretence of stallion-making has been undermined by virtue of the fact a filly has taken the last two runnings: two runnings that, without any doubt in my mind, Cirrus des Aigles would have won had he been eligible. 

As a dual-Arc winner, Cirrus des Aigles would have a CV to truly justify his outstanding rating and, as a dual-Arc winner, he'd be odds-on - long odds-on - for the King George on Saturday. So why isn't he? Often in racehorses, the reality doesn't match up to the myth, but it's the other way around where Cirrus des Aigles is concerned: his myth doesn't match up to the reality. 

In short, he's not sexy. The gelded Cirrus des Aigles is desexualised in body, and he's also unsexy in most people's mind. A seven-year-old gelding with loads of racing behind him, with an unfashionable pedigree, and from a little-known stable in France, Cirrus des Aigles is more Gerard Depardieu than Olivier Martinez. Not sexy. 

But a Timeform rating of 135 is sexy. Winning 11 pattern races, including three Group 1s, by an average distance of four-and-a-half lengths is sexy. Pushing the uber-sexy Frankel closer, much closer, than any other horse managed in 2012 is sexy.

The myth also doesn't match the reality in terms of his ground requirements. Though it's true that he's in his element in the mud, two of his three Group 1 wins have come on fast turf, firstly in the 2011 Champion Stakes, which in turn ticked the Ascot box, double-ticked when he chased home Frankel the following year, and secondly in the mile-and-a-half Sheema Classic in Dubai, where he beat St Nicholas Abbey, who got sexier with age, perhaps explaining, albeit irrationally, why he was favourite over Cirrus des Aigles before his career-ending injury.

It's my view - and indeed the Timeform consensus - that Cirrus des Aigles was a good bet at 4.03/1 with St Nicholas Abbey in the race, but he's an even better bet at 2.68/5 without him. That's because, on Timeform ratings, Cirrus des Aigles is as much as 11 lb clear of what's left against him, which equates to almost six lengths on firmish going. 

The opposition does include Novellist, who beat Cirrus des Aigles amongst others in a Group 1 at Saint-Cloud last month, but during his epic career, now in its sixth season, Cirrus des Aigles has never once been on his game first time out, his reappearance seen purely as a means to an end, and you can guarantee that, with a run under his well-worn belt, the real Cirrus des Aigles will turn up at Ascot.

There are some top-notch three-year-olds around, but not from the normal channel of the Derby, any Derby, whether it's the Irish one from which Trading Leather emerged or the Royal Ascot version that produced Hillstar. Both are towards the bottom of the King George ratings, below even an older Group 1 virgin like Universal, while Ektihaam has blushed and backed out the twice he's had a chance to become a man on the top floor. 

What Universal and Ektihaam will do is make it easy for Christophe Soumillon and Cirrus des Aigles, their forcing style meaning the world's best stalker will get an ideal tow through the race from stall 1. From the set-up of his campaign to the set-up of the race, everything is in place for Cirrus des Aigles to show his home nation just what they're missing because of what he's missing, but the Arc's loss is the King George's gain.

The president of the castration nation, Cirrus des Aigles is proof that, in racing, the whole is indeed more than the sum of certain parts. The industry conservatives might look down their noses at geldings but, right now, it's the geldings who are looking down on the rest of the thoroughbred population.   

There's a common misconception in racing that 'value' pertains only to big prices, but what about the 2.68/5 shot who should be 1.68/13? What about the number one racehorse on the globe against a handful of second-raters? As the Timeform ratings tell you, 2.68/5 about Cirrus des Aigles in the King George are generous odds. Sometimes you have to play big to win big, and that takes only one thing: balls.        

Evviva il coltellino.

Tried our new US site? Click HERE to find out more.