Postponed to Miss King George VI Stakes

Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum’s Postponed will miss the opportunity to defend his title in the group I King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes sponsored by Qipco July 23 due to a respiratory infection.

Postponed defeated Eagle Top by a nose in the race in 2015 when trained by Luca Cumani and is unbeaten in three outings for trainer Roger Varian this season. A victory in Saturday’s race at Ascot would have made him only the third repeat winner of the race first run in 1951, joining Dahlia (1973, 1974) and Swain (1997, 1998).

Varian said the 5-year-old son of Dubawi was found to have an unsatisfactory tracheal wash following his final pre-race exercise Wednesday morning.

“While this setback is only minor, it does rule him out of his assignment at the weekend and he will undertake a brief period of recovery before he returns to full work,” Varian said on his website Varianstable.com. “Up until this point, Postponed had not given us any worry during his training regime. 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,” Varian’s statement continued. “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. We still have many big days ahead to look forward to.”