Sheikh Mohammed Obaid's Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), heavily favoured to defend his title in Saturday's G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot, has been ruled out of the mile-and-a-half contest after trainer Roger Varian revealed he is suffering from a respiratory infection. The condition was discovered after the 5-year-old was scoped on Wednesday.
“Up until this point, Postponed had not given us any worry during his training regime,” Varian said. “However, we felt Postponed did not work with his usual zest this morning and a subsequent scope showed he is suffering from a respiratory infection. This news is obviously very disappointing and it is a real shame for Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, the team and the racing public that he will not line up on Saturday. But, as is always the case, the interests of the horse must come first. If he is not 100%, the only sensible thing to do is not to run.”
“We will let the horse recover from this setback before making a plan of where he runs next,” Varian added. “We still have many big days ahead to look forward to.”
Postponed won last year's King George for trainer Luca Cumani and has not lost since, his win streak now sitting at five following victories in this year's G1 Dubai Sheema Classic and G1 Coronation Cup.
The Queen's G2 Hardwicke S. winner Dartmouth (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who was supplemented for the King George, is now favoured at 2-1. He would become the first winner in 62 years for The Queen in the race named for her parents.
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