Don't get me wrong: I'm not knocking Alamshar. He is clearly a top-drawer King George winner. But that's my interpretation of the race and hopefully I'll be able to bet on it later (starting with fifth-placed Falbrav next month at York: errant course, too headstrong, wrong ground, wrong trip - he ran better than his finishing position).
I'm not knocking ratings per se either - it's the best method we've got for measuring equine ability. Yet its limitations are all too human. How telling it was that Nigel Gray, British racing's-senior handicapper, said on Sunday: "We were looking for a superstar to emerge - and Alamshar fits the bill."
We always want champions in sport but, sometimes, hype takes over and we force it. In racing, this is particularly true because we cling on to the nebulous notion that news of a brilliant horse will somehow win back the mainstream audience we used to enjoy.
Gray was only giving the press what we wanted. How typical I should find fault.
But, Nigel, about Montjeu . . .
O'Brien's dirty job to pay off
John Oxx, Alamshar's trainer, said a remarkable thing when rejecting the Breeders' Cup Classic as a target for his King George winner.
The Classic is more valuable than the Turf, the colt's potential assignment at the same US fixture, but is staged on dirt.
"I am not one of these people who like to take wild chances with good horses and run them on dirt," the Irish trainer said.
Compatriot Aidan O'Brien is "one of these people", having raced Group One winners Galileo, Black Minnaloushe, Giant's Causeway and Hawk Wing in the Classic. Oxx, too, has won a Breeders' Cup event, the 1995 Mile with Ridgewood Pearl, on turf.
It's typical of Oxx that his record at America's premier raceday is unblemished: one runner, one winner. It's typical of O'Brien that he's not afraid to learn from mistakes.
These trainers have different types of horses and demands from their owners. Oxx's chief supplier is the Aga Khan, whose stock is traditional European. O'Brien trains for Coolmore Stud, whose products often have US, dirt-bred bloodlines and who want to win the Classic.
Don't bet against O'Brien accomplishing that mission within five years.
Seabiscuit chokes Bush
Those concerned about world peace and whether the sport of racing has enduring appeal received double cheer from an emotional scene at the White House last week.
George Bush and his aides watched a special screening of Seabiscuit, the eponymous film starring Tobey 'Spiderman' Maguire about a 1930s crooked-legged racehorse who became an unlikely champion. "The President came out with tears in his eyes and one of the staffers was crying very hard," reported guest Laura Hillenbrand, author of the best-selling book on which the heart-warming film is based. I can't think of a more ringing endorsement.
Going for glory
Goodwood is a fine place, irrespective of whether being seen or making money is your priority.
If cash is your incentive, Dawn Invasion can win his second Glorious Goodwood prize in as many years in Friday's Glorious Rated Stakes.
Russian Rhythm can win her third Group One in Saturday's Nassau Stakes while James Fanshawe's Frizzante can land the Vodafone Stewards' Cup.
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