Given he tends not to target Ascot’s summer showpiece, though, it perhaps should not come as that much of a shock for a trainer who has won the Grand Prix de Paris, which is run at a similar time of year, a record 14 times.
The one horse who Fabre has scaled the King George heights with is Hurricane Run, an imperious performer who perhaps is not remembered as fondly as he should be, as his career ended with four defeats.
However, he was almost perfect in a magnificent three-year-old season, winning five of his six races, which included the Irish Derby, the Prix Niel and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
His sole defeat came in the Prix du Jockey Club to Shamardal, the first year the French Derby was run over the reduced distance of an extended 10 furlongs.
“It will be quite a short chat because I’ve only won it once!” said Fabre when asked for his King George memories.
“He was a hell of a horse, Hurricane Run, that was a very good King George he won, too.
“He was very unlucky not to be unbeaten at three. His was the first year the Prix du Jockey Club was run over a reduced distance and he almost caught Shamardal.
“He was a real 12-furlong horse. He was right up there with the best I have trained and it is a shame that when he went to stud more people didn’t want to use him, most breeders these days just want early speed. Hopefully horses like him will come back into fashion one day at stud.”
Recalling that day at Ascot in July 2006, Fabre remembers how the then four-year-old Hurricane Run looked in big trouble.
His two main rivals were Godolphin’s Electrocutionist, a Juddmonte International and Dubai World Cup winner, and Heart’s Cry from Japan, at the time the only horse to have beaten Deep Impact and who has proved a big success in the stallion shed.
Christophe Soumillon was riding Hurricane Run, having been his original jockey before Coolmore stepped in to buy him and used their man Kieren Fallon. However, at the time, Fallon was banned from riding in the UK and was based in Ireland.
Soumillon was hard at work when the field turned into the straight and he looked in big trouble when Christophe Lemaire moved up on his outside on Heart’s Cry, meaning he had nowhere to go, with Frankie Dettori on Electrocutionist directly in front of him.
But Electrocutionist hung slightly to his left, meaning there was a gap for Soumillon on the outside of the pacemaker Cherry Mix – and he did not need a second invitation.
Fabre picks up the story: “In the King George that day, he did look beaten. Two furlongs out, he looked in trouble, but he had such great acceleration that he was able to get through a gap.
“It was quick ground that day, but I had no real concerns about him on it because he was a very sound horse and a great mover. I’m not that concerned about the going, especially for older horses.
“For young horses, it is different; when it is soft ground, they can be too weak to handle it, but older horses should be fine.
“He had been beaten the time before at Saint-Cloud, which surprised everyone, but Pride was a very good mare and she had that turn of foot. I think she just caught the jockey (Fallon) by surprise and maybe he had been a bit over-confident. He found himself in front a long way from home.”
Ascot was the last time Hurricane Run was to win, as he kept finding classy stablemates in his way.
Shirocco beat him by a neck in the Prix Foy and it was the year-younger Rail Rink who won the Arc that year.
“I know it is quite controversial to some that the three-year-olds get such an allowance off their elders by the time of the Arc, but I think they need it,” said Fabre.
“You can ask any rider and they say the difference between sitting on a three and a four-year-old is huge, so they deserve the allowance.
“There seems to be a belief these days that the three-year-olds don’t deserve the allowance, but that is not true in my view. Just ask the jockeys, they will tell you the difference.
“Hurricane Run grew and strengthened from three to four, you could see him physically change. He was very impressive on his first run at four in Ireland (in the Tattersalls Gold Cup).
“Electrocutionist had won the World Cup in Dubai, Heart’s Cry was one of the best in Japan and won the Sheema Classic. I suppose that is what a race like the King George is all about, the best horses from all over the world.”
Asked why he had not tended to have many runners in the Ascot race, Fabre said it was a question of timing, mostly.
“The King George comes right in the middle of the summer. In my view, it is very difficult to have a horse right at his peak for the King George and then the Arc,” he said.
“Saying that, I hope it stays as an important race because it is always a great spectacle, the three-year-olds taking on their elders.
“We also have the Grand Prix de Paris in the middle of the summer for our three-year-olds, so it is very tempting to stay in France against your own age group and take on your elders in the autumn.”
Having trained some true legends of the turf, Fabre often nominates Peintre Celebre as the very best, but he holds Hurricane Run in the same bracket.
He said: “Hurricane Run was a totally different horse to Peintre Celebre, totally different, but they were both top-class horses, amongst the very best I’ve had.”
