Novellist sets King George VI record, while Liz Hurley looks on at Ascot

Actress Liz Hurley and her partner cricketer Shane Warne were on hand to watch German raider Novellist make history at Ascot at the weekend.

Novellist stormed into the record books Saturday (27 July) winning the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Liz was spotted inspecting horses in the paddock before the race as well as presenting a trophy earlier in the day.

Novellist, trained by Andreas Wohler, powered home in a course record time of 2m 24.60s under Johnny Murtagh — whose biggest challenge was pulling the horse up after the race.

“He is a very high-class horse with a good engine,” he said. “He relaxes well and I loved the way that, when I asked him to stretch, he really got down — he wanted it.

“From the six-furlong marker up to the four, he was nearly off the bridle a little bit, which is good. When I turned in and got to the two-furlong marker, I really wanted to stretch. He stretched well and I guess pulling him up was the hardest part.”

And it was an expensive day for Longines, Ascot’s official timekeeper, as the company gives one of its watches to the owner, trainer, jockey and lad of any horse who breaks a course record.

 For full report don’t miss this week’s issue of H&H, out Thursday 1 August.

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