WHEN Order of St George bursts out of the stalls at Chantilly on Sunday, he will have a very realistic chance of landing the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. His Irish St Leger win was arguably the best effort of his distinguished career, and the soft ground is of more help to him than when a gallant third in last year’s contest which was run on unseasonably quick going.

My reasons for cheering him on, though, are only partly form based, and the root of my support is for what the five-year-old entire represents, namely a throwback to a lost age when Gold Cup winners were the poster boys of flat racing.

In my eyes, he’s become the reincarnation of the great Ardross, a horse who came along just as my interest in flat racing was first piqued, and for those of a slightly older generation, he’s equally reminiscent of Seamus McGrath’s Levmoss, Ardross’s damsire, who succeeded where Ardross so narrowly failed by winning the Gold Cup at Ascot and the Arc at Longchamp in the same season.

The going was less très souple and more très collant when Ardross went down in a driving finish against the Aga Khan’s Akiyda, and while one schoolboy was gutted that the unheard of filly (she may have been runner-up in the French Oaks and Prix Vermeille, but such niceties were lost on me) had ruined my hero’s swansong.

COURAGEOUS RUN

It was a typically courageous run from the horse Sir Henry Cecil had inherited on the death of the legendary Darkie Prendergast. Ardross had crowned a career marked as much by tremendous resilience and battling spirit as it was by brilliance, and had maintained a legion of fans in the process.

Everyone loves a winner, they say, but many of those who cheered for Ardross were captivated by his defeats at the hands of Le Moss in the 1980 stayers’ triple crown. Still racing for Prendergast against Cecil’s relentless stayer (and full-brother to Levmoss), Ardross announced himself as a contender when second at Ascot.

The battles between the pair for the Goodwood and Doncaster Cups were the stuff of Hollywood film scripts, Le Moss prevailing by a neck on each occasion after a prolonged battle. The rivalry was akin to that seen between great boxers, with Le Moss a true champion with no flaws in a battle, but Ardross had a little bit of swagger about him which was evident even in defeat.

UNTOUCHABLE

With Le Moss retired, he was untouchable in his division, and like many great champions, had to drop in trip to be fully tested, and it was only a charmed run for Akiyda which prevented him ending his career with the ultimate victory, the line coming two strides too soon for his ground-devouring finish to prevail.

There aren’t many horses in the mould of Levmoss or Ardross any more. Trying to encourage a return to the glory days of the great middle-distance stayers is slightly less realistic than the task attempted by King Knut, it does need to be said that Aidan O’Brien and Coolmore deserve enormous credit for injecting life into the staying pattern, and the Gold Cup has been greatly enriched by having horses of the calibre of Yeats and Order of St George gracing it.

Camelot may not have won the St Leger according to the official record, but is a Triple Crown winner in the eyes of many, and success in the Arc for a proven stayer would be the crowning glory of this enlightened approach.

There is much to moan about in the modern horseracing world, so it’s pleasing to be able to cheer an approach which isn’t merely commercial. On that note, looking forward to battle in France, and to paraphrase the Bard, ‘Cry God for Aidan, Coolmore, and Saint George!’