1959 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes

The contenders

The race attracted a field of eleven runners, four trained in the United Kingdom, five in France, one in Ireland and one in Germany. The favourite was the Cecil Boyd-Rochfort-trained Alcide, a four-year-old colt owned by Sir Humphrey de Trafford who had been a hot favourite for previous year’s Epsom Derby, but could not run in that race because he was most likely ‘got at’ and had received a savage blow in his box, which had broken him a  rib. The Irish challenger was Gladness. France was represented by Balbo, Al Mabsoot, Chief (owned by Prince Aly Khan), Ascot Gold Cup-winner Wallaby II (who in that race had beaten Alcide by a 'short head' into 2nd place 30 days ago) and Amourrou. The German challenger was the five-year-old Orsini, winner of the Deutsches Derby. Orsini's 5th place should be the best performance of a German trained horse in that race until Danedream's success in 2012. Apart from Alcide, the best of the British-trained runners appeared to be the Epsom Oaks second Cantelo. The other runners were Pindari, owned by H. M. The Queen, and the filly Mirnaya.

The race

Alcide was last into the straight, but, admirably ridden by William (‘Harry’) Carr, won comfortably.