Five scintillating home straight shootouts after thrilling King George

The denouement. The crescendo. The climax. The last act. Whatever you wish to call the final furlong in the finishing straight of a horse race, it is where we all want to see the action unfold.

Regularly the first furlong of any horse race plays a significant part in determining what will happen at the business end in that it sets the tempo, but much as with the closing stages to the thrilling King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday the build-up gave those final 12 seconds or so true meaning.

Poet’s Word and Crystal Ocean tracked a searing pace, and as the likes of front-runner Rostropovich and Salouen dropped away the stage was set for a real dust-up that not only served up a visual treat, but produced a result that was 2.66 seconds faster than standard.

We all have our favourite head-to-heads, and if you go back through the video vaults the grainy black and white images of the young pretender Grundy beating the late maturing Bustino in the same race in 1975, and those of Affirmed winning the Triple Crown from Alydar after a tremendous set-to through all three iconic races in 1978 live long in the memory.

And yet, what we have seen with our own eyes for the first time is always emblazoned on the memory more than what we have watched on Youtube, and with that in mind below I have suggested five stretch battles I have lived through that standout above all the others.

Giant’s Causeway v Kalanisi – 2000 Coral-Eclipse, Sandown:

This was the race that put Giant’s Causeway on the map and was the start of his seeming blue-collar success story. Prior to his monumental effort at Sandown he had threatened to be just a nearly horse. Second in a 27-runner 2000 Guineas, and another runner-up berth in the Irish equivalent was made good by a victory in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Pitched against his elders for the first time in Esher the reins were given to 53-year-old jockey George Duffield, having been held previously by Mick Kinane.

Subsequent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Sakhee appeared to soften up Giant’s Causeway from his position on the rail two furlongs out, and once Sheikh Hamdan’s colt had been fought off Pat Eddery chose to swoop aboard Kalanisi down the outside. It was the right way to try and beat him, but Giant’s Causeway had other ideas.

Although Kalanisi got his head in front, Duffield called for a last ditch effort from his mount and the pair fought back to nick it by a head.

Giant’s Causeway won six races in his three-year-old season, all of which were by less than a length and two of his four defeats saw him go down by just a neck.

Tiznow v Giant’s Causeway – 2000 Breeders’ Cup Classic, Churchill Downs:

This was a clash between two horses that refused to bend. On this side of the Atlantic we all know that Giant’s Causeway was known as the 'Iron Horse', but he more than met his match under the Twin Spires.

Tiznow broke under Chris McCarron from stall 13, while Mick Kinane was drawn widest of all in 14.

In the early stages McCarron rousted his mount to contest the lead with Albert The Great, all the while stalked by the Irish raider.

The gallop was maintained as the three horses whipped in to the finishing straight, but as Giant’s Causeway came to join the party with a furlong and a half to go Albert The Great fell away.

Soon enough, the two horses were eyeballing each other.

“A heart-pounding, pulsating stretch drive,” commentator Tom Durkin described it, as the two equine heavyweights thundered at each other but it was the American horse who pulled out more.

Tiznow showed how tough he really was when 12 months later he denied Sakhee in the same race at Belmont Park by a neck.

Colour Vision v Opinion Poll - 2012 Gold Cup, Royal Ascot:

It is not often that all four protagonists are involved tooth and nail but the rivalry between jockeys Frankie Dettori and the fledgling Mickael Barzalona made this for a spicy mix.

Barzalona had been promoted to rides above Dettori in the preceding months, with the decisions often coming from Sheikh Mohammed himself. Rumours swirled that the 41-year-old Dettori was considering retirement, prompting then Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford to quash those rumours.

It had been reported in the lead-up to the signature contest of Royal Ascot that Dettori would ride Opinion Poll, as he had done when taking the Henry II Stakes at Sandown earlier in the season. Instead, at the 48-hour declaration stage Dettori instead was handed the ride aboard Colour Vision.

Opinion Poll looked beaten for Barzalona coming in to the home straight, too. Dettori went for home with a quarter of a mile to go aboard the grey and they had to fend off the attentions of Silvestre De Sousa and Gulf Of Naples.

Inside the final furlong, however, Barzalona had coaxed Opinion Poll into laying down one more challenge and the two horses were locked in a competitive embrace all the way to the line.

There were elbows, there were bumps, and Dettori was riding for his reputation both inside and outside the Godolphin operation, while Barzalona was clearly out to make a point.

Fantastic Light v Galileo, 2001 Irish Champion Stakes, Leopardstown:

This race was staged when the international rivalry between Coolmore and Godolphin was at its hottest both on the course and in the sales rings around the world.

Galileo had beaten Fantastic Light comprehensively in the King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes when in receipt of 12lb, but that advantage was whittled down to 7lb in Ireland and that made things much more even.

Ballydoyle pacemaker Ice Dancer had gone off too quickly, whereas Godolphin’s Give The Slip acted as the true hare to the hounds.

Godolphin employed the sort of race management you regularly see from Coolmore these days, as Fantastic Light skipped up the inner and Galileo was forced three wide by Godolphin’s appropriately-named second string.

Both horses settled down to a bruising battle, which Fantastic Light never looked like losing.

Dettori could scarcely believe he had pulled it off. “It was one of those races that I will savour for my whole life,” he said.

Ouija Board v Alexandra Goldrun - 2006 Nassau Stakes, Goodwood:

Ouija Board was a globe-trotting sensation, having added the Irish Oaks to her Oaks victory in 2004, as well as the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf and the Hong Kong Vase. After a tough campaign in 2006 that resulted in defeats in Dubai, Hong Kong and in the Coronation Cup at Epsom, she bounced back to win the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Alexander Goldrun had won the previous season’s Nassau Stakes and had just taken the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes. Despite her form, Alexander Goldrun was sent off a dismissive 9-2 to Ouija Board’s Evens and overall there were winners of 13 Group One races on show. a classy renewal.

Two furlongs out it appeared the layers had got it wrong. Kevin Manning moved up Alexander Goldrun smoothly to collar Ouija Board, who had led from the three-furlong marker under Frankie Dettori.

Alexander Goldrun looked to be going much the better, but Ouija Board kept on finding. It was a rousing battle up the beautiful Goodwood straight, and although Alexander Goldrun briefly had her head in front, Ouija Board got the better of her in the final tussle to win by a short-head.