Who could’ve seen it coming? After all, the 2021 King George VI Chase was packed with some of jump racing’s biggest stars. The previous year’s champion, Frodon, was in attendance. Pre-race favourite Chantry House looked in excellent nick. The ever-dangerous Clan Des Obeaux looked primed for a strong performance. Gold Cup winner Minello Indo was in the field. Asterion Forlonge was seen as a strong outside bet. These were all horses who were fancied to do the business at Kempton.
The thunder of hooves. Mud rising in fine specks over fences. One by one, the favourites faltered. Chantry House and Minella Indo were pulled up. Asterion Forlonge fell. Frodon failed to produce the same level of performance as the year before.
It all opened up for the unfancied Tornado Flyer, who at odds of 28/1 was in no-one’s reckoning as a potential winner of this great race, and yet there he was, crossing the finish line ahead of Clan Des Obeaux to the shock of the Kempton crowds.
It goes down as a win for Willie Mullins, though he would have never expected that Tornado Flyer would be the one to deliver it as opposed to Asterion Forlonge. It had been 84 years since a horse won the King George VI Chase at longer odds than 28/1, but Mullins was the chief beneficiary of this upset to end all upsets, as was Danny Mullins, his nephew who was in the saddle.
“I was totally surprised,” Mullins said afterwards. “John Turner, who has a share in the horse, was on to me to bring him over because he wanted a runner at Kempton on Boxing Day, and I said: ‘Why not?’. But I didn’t dream we were going for a win. The instructions I gave Danny were to ride from the back and get all the prize money you can.”
Having become the first Irish winner of the King George in 16 years, suddenly there is a huge amount of expectation thrust upon Tornado Flyer. Without a win for over two years before heading to Kempton, the nine-year-old finally lived up to his name with this nine-length victory, and now racing fans are wondering what’s next?
The King George is always a good barometer ahead of the Cheltenham Festival, and although Tornado Flyer secured third in the Ryanair Chase last year with the same man in the saddle, Mullins senior might well have his sights set on the Gold Cup this time around, given the strength of competition that his horse overcame at Kempton.
Tornado Flyer’s odds for the Cheltenham showpiece race have been slashed to 10/1 on sites like https://www.betdaq.com/exchange/horse-racing/100004 as a result of his heroics, and many a punter will be intrigued by the gelding’s prospects for March. Come the Festival though, it’s hard to imagine so many big names failing to produce the goods in arguably the biggest race in the jump racing season.
For now, let’s just sit in awe at Tornado Flyer’s performance, and at the capacity horse racing has to make us rise from our seats in wonder just when we think we have seen it all. This was a victory for the ages — well might the Mullins family savour it.
